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Case Study - Reading

Name: Mark
Age:   28
Diagnosis: Learning disabilities, primarily affecting reading skills.

Mark is the third child from a large African-American family. He was born and raised in a large western city. He attended inner-city schools and was placed in special education classes in the fourth grade. He is unsure why he was in those classes other than the fact that he just had trouble in school. By the time he reached high school, he was just in special ed for one period a day. The school placed him in a vocational track against his wishes. Mark has always been to obtain a college degree.

Mark has little contact with his family. They were not supportive of his dream to get a college education. He says he has always known that college was the only way to create a better life for himself. He does not plan to marry or start a family until he gets his degree. He worked his way across the country attending small colleges until he met a roadblock of courses he could not complete. At that time he dropped out and worked several jobs to pay back the student loans he had received. He continued to search for schools he could complete his degree in.

At this point, Mark lacks fifteen hours to graduate from a small Georgia college with a degree in Recreation Administration. His goal is to work with “special needs” individuals in a community recreation program. He needs to complete an English literature course, Georgia history and public administration in order to graduate. He has failed all three classes. He could not complete all the reading assignments or remember the material/facts in the history and literature classes.

Mark has once again dropped out of college and is currently working full time as a supervisor in a factory. A friend suggested that he attend local Adult Basic Education classes to improve his reading and writing skills. He joined a class recently. Mark has good reasoning and logic skills, but has a hard time expressing himself. He stumbles over his words and his sentences are often jumbled. 

Strengths:

• Mark is motivated and goal-oriented.        
• His reasoning and logic skills are good.
• Math skills are adequate
• Mark has good adaptive life skills

Weaknesses:

• He has difficulty organizing written work and oral presentations.
• He mixes up words as he reads, skips words, misreads syntax thus making his reading labored and slow.
• Since reading is slow and lacking fluency his comprehension is poor as well

Problem:  Reading and Reading Comprehension*         

Low Technology Suggestions  

1. Highlighters and/or highlighting tape (to highlight important facts or information)
2. Bar magnifier or reading guide to help focus on one line of text at a time
3. Colored overlays to help calm black on white text

Computer Assisted Devices

Obtain reading material in alternative formats as available:

1. Books on Tape/CD (Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic -RFB&D; Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped)
2. Obtain reading material in electronic format as much as possible for text to speech use.
3. Text to speech software –for auditory reading on computer or conversion to WAV file for a MP3 player.
4. Scan text (unavailable in e-text format through alternative services) with a  scanner and OCR software to use with text to speech software. For large volumes of text an advanced reading aid, such as Kurzweil 3000, WYNN, or TextHelp, will be more time efficient and easier to use.

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