Hirsch 1

Sarah Hirsch
Sherry Mulholland
SERP 301C Fall 16
20 September 2016
Background
My case study child is a seven-year-old boy named Derek*. He lives with his mother and
father and has a younger sibling. He comes from an English-speaking household and does not
know another language that I know of. Derek was retained after his first year of Kindergarten so
he is a first grader now after his two years of Kindergarten. Derek has an IEP for speech and
language. He is a curious student who likes to stay busy. He is always eager to help the teacher
in any way that he can. Derek enjoys free play with others and gets along well with peers and
adults.
Derek has challenges hearing word parts such as the beginning, middle and ending
sounds. He stumbles in math because he has difficulty processing the instructions that are
necessary to complete a math task. Derek struggles with identifying vocabulary words correctly
and refrains from using specific names of objects and describing words. He has a difficult time
completing tasks because he is slow to process auditory information and often doesnt process it
completely.
Derek has made tremendous growth since this IEP was written almost a year ago. The
classroom teacher believes that when it is time to review his IEP this year, that it may be found
that he does not need one anymore. He has met many of his goals and is close to meeting the
ones he hasnt yet. His parents have tried to be very active in supporting him in any way they
can in the home to help work on these goals outside of school as well.

* This is a pseudonym for this child.

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Dereks first goal is a Goal for Communication (Fluency). His annual goal for this area is
for him to use easy starts or east stutters within therapy sessions 8 out of 10 times over 4 out of 5
sessions. His next goal is Goal for Communication (Expressive/Receptive language). The annual
goal is for Derek to listen to picture book stories or reading his instructional text and then to
accurately give examples and/or explain targeted TIER 2 and TIER 3 vocabulary 4 out of 5 times
over 4 out of 5 sessions. Dereks next goal is Goal for Communication (Expressive Language)
with the annual goal of using complete, grammatically correct simple, compound and complex
phrases 4 out 5 times over 4 out of 5 sessions. The next goal is Goal for phoneme blending with
the annual goal of having Derek demonstrate phonemic awareness by orally blending the
phonemes within consonant-vowel-consonant words, given letter pictures as visual reference 8
out of 10 times accurately over 10 trials. Dereks next goal is the Goal for Following
Instructions. The annual goal for this area is after being given multi-step directions, Derek will
repeat the instructions verbally in order to fully ensure comprehension to complete a task
independently in 4 out of 5 trials. The next goal is the Goal for Reading Comprehension with the
annual goal of Derek hearing a story and then being able to identify the main idea and answer
three right there questions correctly about the story in 4 out of 5 times. His next goal is the
Goal for Phoneme Segmentation with the annual goal of Derek being given a set of 5 word
pictures and then orally saying the whole word and then segment the word into phonemes in 4
out of 5 times.
Derek has been appropriately placed in the Least Restrictive Environment for him within
the General Education classroom. This setting is appropriate and least restrictive because he is in
the classroom with typical peers for the majority of the day. He is only pulled out for speech and

* This is a pseudonym for this child.

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resource services to work on skills that will help him be more successful in the general education
classroom.
The accommodations in Dereks IEP are for the materials to be adapted with the use of
visual aids, having him repeat and explain directions to check for understanding, and being
seated in a specific location within the testing room. The accommodation for visual aid benefits
Derek in seeing examples of what is expected rather than just hearing it. This also helps with his
difficulty with following multi-step instructions. The accommodation for directions helps to
ensure that Derek understands the assignment and what is expected of him. The accommodation
for being seated in a specific location is set up so Derek sits near the teacher in order to help him
maintain focus. I have not seen any of these accommodations within the general education
classroom and have even discussed with the teacher about whether or not Derek had any
accommodations since I never saw any happening for him. She said that she didnt know if he
did but that it didnt seem like he needed any accommodations.
Part of Dereks IEP for speech has to deal with a dysfluency that his teacher noticed last
year. In one of the textbooks it describes this as the repetition of particular sounds or words,
noticeable hesitations between words, extra sounds, or the undue prolonging of a sound (Allen,
p. 431). It also states that these types of speech irregularities are common in young children and
putting a label on them unnecessarily may have a self-fulfilling effect (Allen, p. 431).
Through my work with this child so far this year, I have not noticed any obvious speech
problems and I feel that this might have just been a part of Dereks typical development.
Another reason why I may not have noticed anything off about Dereks speech could be because
he received services at a young age for speech through this IEP. When speech and language
impairments emerge at a young age, the earlier they receive services and the more likely that

* This is a pseudonym for this child.

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[the] child can outgrow the disability (Speech and Language Impairments). Most research on
speech disorders say that they are mostly related to certain medical or developmental
conditions or that they could be hereditary (Kahn). Derek does not have any of these
conditions that could be the cause of his speech challenges that I know of so I wonder if there
could be one cause that would pinpoint the start of his speech and language challenges.

* This is a pseudonym for this child.

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Works Cited
Allen, K. Eileen., and Glynnis Cowdery E. The Exceptional Child: Inclusion in Early Childhood
Education. Stamford: Cengage Learning, 2015. Print.
Kahn, April. Speech Disorders. Healthline. Healthline, 24 Nov. 2015. Web. 17 Sept. 2016.
Speech and Language Impairments. Special Education Guide. Special Education Guide, 2016.
Web. 17 Sept. 2016.

* This is a pseudonym for this child.