Charlotte is a 9-year-old girl in 4th grade.

She is a happy, fun loving child.

Charlotte has been identified with a

speech and language disability.

Personality

Happy› She walks around the classroom with a big smile on her face each day.

Confident › She participates in class by providing answers throughout the lesson. Also, she volunteers

to go up to the smart board and demonstrate how she came to her answers.

Loves to Talk› Charlotte tells me about her day as soon as she walks into the center. She also constantly

socializes with her friends.

Spontaneous› She is quick to walk out of the classroom, or play with things in the hallway (ex: automatic

door opener, posters).

Externally Motivated› She completes her homework more often when she receives an incentive (ex: sticker

chart which leads to a pizza or ice cream party.

Learnabilities

Strengths

Working with a partner› Charlotte is quick to move to the back table and work with a peer. Both children get a

great deal of work done together.

Listening› She follows directions immediately, the first time!

Participating in a small group› She is eager to get involved in activities (ex: popcorn reading, showing examples of math

problems, sharing her writing, etc...)

Paying attention in class› She usually has her eyes on me, or whoever else is presenting the lesson.

Sticking with an assignment until it is done› Charlotte works on one activity until it is complete on a regular basis. She does not flip-flop

between assignments.

Learnabilities

Challenges

Asking for help› She sits in her seat quietly without raising her hand if she is

struggling with a task.

Knowledge of school resources› I give her reminders of the classroom resources (ex:

dictionary, thesaurus) on a daily basis.

Working independently› She has a hard time focusing on a task if a peer next to her isn't

working on the same task, or if an adult isn't nearby.

Environmental Preferences

Preferences

Working with others› She asks her peers to move to other parts of the room (ex: the floor below the whiteboard) so they can

work on homework together.

Food› Charlotte works well when she is able to snack.

Open area› When working at a desk Charlotte usually stands up at the side of it. If possible she moves to the large back

table or the floor.

Distractions

Friends/peers› Sometimes when she works with more than one peer they talk about unrelated activities.

Loud sounds› Charlotte likes to explore the cause of any loud noises, including music and "bangs."

External Influences

Positive views of parents toward school› Charlotte has commented that her mother praises her

when she does well in school, or at least tries her best.

Others in the home help with schoolwork› When we haven't finished homework at the

center, Charlotte has said her mother will help her when she gets home.

A great deal of exposure to reading at home› She has also mentioned that her mother reads with her

each night before bedtime.

Multiple Intelligences

Body smart› She enjoys learning through activities where she can move

around. Charlotte enjoys learning information by rotating centers.

People smart› She communicates effectively among her peers and teachers.

Self smart› She is able to self-assess the quality of work she produces.

Picture smart› Charlotte independently retrieves manipulatives and draws

pictures to help make sense of math concepts.

Motivational Style

Gregariousness› Charlotte goes into any group work situation with a positive

attitude and able to express what she thinks in order to make a contribution to the group.

Power› She enjoys writing on the smart board and "teaching" the rest of

the class on a topic.

Compensatory Strategies

Use of manipulatives› When she is having difficulty in math she independently gets

manipulatives to help her make the problems more concrete.

Self-Advocacy

Strategies

Belief in Self

Involvement & Choice

Self-Knowledge

Strongest

Weakest

Self-Knowledge: › The knowledge of what works best for yourself and what doesn’t.

It also includes the ability to communicate what works for you and what doesn’t to the people around you.

Evidence:› Charlotte understands that when she is working on math she is

much more successful when she uses manipulatives.

› When Charlotte is distracted during an independent assignment, she moves to a part of the room where she can work better (ex: laying on the floor instead of sitting at her desk).

How to Foster Empowerment:› Plan activities which allow the students to talk about what they

are good at. For example, play a round robin game where the students say “I am really good at…”

Involvement & Choice: › Giving students a choice in activities or materials to

complete a task. Also, encouraging students to display what they’ve learned in ways other than a paper and pencil test (ex: poster board, write a song).

Evidence:› Charlotte expresses what materials she would like to use to

complete tasks on a consistent basis. For example, she lets me know if she wants to use markers if the directions specify crayons.

How to Foster Empowerment:› When the students are completing a project, give them a

Tic-Tac-Do to choose a method for displaying what they’ve learned.

Belief in Self: › The ability to believe in your abilities. It is

important to focus on abilities, rather than disabilities.

Evidence:› When we discuss concepts and content

Charlotte is comfortable with, she is quick to model her answer for the rest of the class.

How to Foster Empowerment:› Continue to encourage Charlotte to be a

“student expert” and allow her opportunities to model work for the rest of the class.

Strategies: › Strategies are tips and tricks which help you learn

content and concepts. When strategies are connected to your strongest multiple intelligence they become the most useful.

Evidence:› When Charlotte is having difficulty on an assignment

she knows a couple strategies. She tries to apply those strategies for every academic struggle.

How to Foster Empowerment:› Create and display a list of strategies being used by

other students in the classroom. Teach the students how and when to use the strategies on the list they don’t know how to use.

Self-Advocacy:› Students are able to express what they know, what they

don’t know, what they need to succeed, etc… in an effective manner.

Evidence:› Charlotte sits at her seat without raising her hand when

she is having difficulty with a task.

How to Foster Empowerment:› I will give Charlotte 3 colored cards (red, green & yellow)

which signal whether or not she has a question. If she is on green she doesn’t have a question. If she moves the yellow card on top that means she has a question, but it’s not major and she can still work. If she moves the red card on top that means she has an urgent question and can’t continue until her question is answered.

Organization

› Charlotte will be able to write down her

homework, or an “X” if there is no homework

assigned, 4 out of 5 days per week.

Agenda› By using an agenda Charlotte will be able to see

what homework needs to be completed for each subject. Writing an “X” if there isn’t any homework assigned will be a visual that there isn’t any homework, and she didn’t just forget to write something down (if the space was blank).

As she completes each assignment she can physically cross it off her list with a marker.

If she does have a blank she must contact her homework buddy to see if there wasn’t any homework assigned, or she forgot to write down her homework.

Reading

› Charlotte will be able to fluently read 50

words per minute with 100% accuracy.

Repeated Readings› This is implemented when the student repeatedly

reads a passage (at least 4 times). Passages should be 50-500 words long. The teacher should allot 15-30 minutes a day for repeated readings.

Supporting Research› Research conducted since the 1970s has shown that

repeated readings increase reading fluency and comprehension.

› Repeated readings should be used with passages on the student’s current reading level. Research is split, stating that repeated readings have

been effective when the passages are on the students’ independent reading level, as well as their instructional level.

Writing

› Charlotte will be able to write a sentence

using correct mechanics 6 out of 8 trials.

COPS› This is a four-step strategy which helps students

identify any errors in mechanics: C – Capitalization Ask yourself: “Have I capitalized the first word and proper

nouns?”

O – Overall appearance Ask yourself: “Have I made any (overall)

handwriting, margin, spacing or careless errors?”

P – Punctuation Ask yourself: “Have I used end punctuation, commas

and semicolons correctly?”

S – Spelling Ask yourself: “Do the words look like they are spelled

right, can I sound them our or should I use a dictionary?”

Supporting Research

› When research was conducted with students

who have mild disabilities the COPS strategy

was shown to have increased the students’ abilities to detect and correct errors in their

writing.

Math Skills

› Charlotte will complete multiplication word

problems with 80 percent accuracy.

DRAW› This is a four step word problem solving strategy: Discover the sign

Read the problem (ex: 4 times 3 equals blank)

Answer or “DRAW” a representation of the problem

Write the answer

Supporting Research› This strategy has been effective with students who have

disabilities. Research has shown that the DRAW mnemonic successful with improving several math skills: increase the rate of computation, solve word problems with increasing difficulty, and generalize math skills.

› DRAW is a metacognitive strategy. By using strategies such as DRAW students are required to identify “how to think about what they are doing” (Boyle & Provost, 120).

ANY QUESTIONS?

Boyle, J. R., & Provost, M. C. Strategies for

teaching students with disabilities in

inclusive classrooms: A case method

approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ:

Pearson.

Arnold, E. Strength-Based Strategies for

students with ADD/ADHD or Asperger’s

Syndrome: Grade 5-12. Online book.