Background

Ace is an eight-year-old third grader at Borton Elementary School.

He chose the name Ace for himself for his pseudonym because Ace Frehley
from the band KISS is his favorite guitarist, and he wants to be a rockstar
when he grows up. Ace is great at baseball and soccer, and he has a Specific
Learning Disability, which he is receiving support for specifically in reading
and writing.
Ace has many strengths inside and outside of school. From my
observations of Ace, I can see that he is a very social and friendly student
that interacts well with his peers. He is one of the most athletic students in
his class, and I know both from interviewing Ace, as well as talking to his
parents during his parent teacher conference, Ace is extremely talented at
baseball, soccer, and running. Furthermore, Aces Individualized Education
Plan indicates that he received 3s (meets standards) in speaking and
listening standards, language standards, math standards, science, social
studies, fine arts, social-emotional, self-directed learner, collaborative
worker, problem solver, responsible citizen, and quality producer. His
teacher also agrees that he is an extremely hard worker. Ace is pulled out
for Speech, Occupational Therapy, and Resource, but he is very good about
reminding his teacher when he needs to make up work that he has missed.
Furthermore, Ace is very confident in his work. Even when he is not correct,
he is excited to share his answers and learn from his mistakes.
Some of Aces challenges include retaining information as quickly as
his peers. Ace is pulled out for resource because he often needs instruction
repeated and to be taught in a smaller group. Ace also struggles with his

reading comprehension and writing conventions. He is currently only reading

50 words per minute, and the grade standard is 75. He also cannot produce
his own rhyming words. His writing composite fell below average and his
performance in written expression was also weak in comparison to other
children his age. He needs quite a bit of help in organizing his ideas for
writing, but once he gets started he often works quickly and carelessly. He
also needs to work on his spelling and making sure he is really sounding out
every word.
Aces IEP report was written up in May 2015, so all the information is
recent history. Included is a report from his occupational therapist as well.
Ace sees an occupational therapist for his handwriting and fine motor skills.
His goals are to be able to write all his letters neatly and use scissors safely.
Per the rest of his IEP, Ace has goals for his reading and writing. For writing,
Aces annual goal is to be able to independently construct sentences
containing correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling 4/5 opportunities. For
reading, Aces annual foal is to be able to read 2nd grade leved text and
answer 8/10 comprehension questions correctly.
Ace is receiving many accommodations for his needs. He is allowed to
have instructions and directions repeated, as well as scripted direction
repeated for state tests. He can have simplified language for directions that
he has to read on his own. He may also have small group administration as
well as teacher chunked information. His assignments, tests, and homework
can be reduced and modified. He also gets visual aids, for example he uses
pictures on his spelling tests while other students do not. He is also allowed

frequent breaks during working time or tests. He is allowed access to seat

copies of directions on the board, and his teacher highlights instructions and
questions he needs to answer on assignments.
Through my research of Specific Learning Disabilities, I learned many
interesting things. I learned that there is no cure to a specific learning
disability and that they are lifelong. However, students can be successful
when they learn ways around the disability (parentcenterhub.org). This is
important to know because now I understand that Ace will always learn
differently than his peers, no matter what. It is crucial to understand this
because this is why it is so important for Ace to have all the support and
accommodations he can receive. According to asha.org, specific learning
disabilities do not include learning problems that are a result of
environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage. It is important to see
understand this when noticing low-achieving students in school. Many
students may not be achieving as high as their peers because of
environmental or socioeconomic factors. Ace, on the other hand, is the child
of two teachers and his parents expected him to be high achieving as they
read with him and work with him on his schoolwork. Ultimately, they learned
that Ace has a specific learning disability, and now they can use supports to
help him learn and grow best. Lastly, I learned that 33 percent of students
with a learning disability are held back a grade (understood.org). I believe
that this probably affects the students who are not getting proper support for
their specific learning disability, unlike Ace. This is important to realize, as a
future teacher, because it will be my job to make sure students with specific

learning disabilities are receiving proper accommodations in order to be

successful in school and not be retained.
Resources:
American Speech Language Hearing Association. Specific Learning
Disabilities.

<http://www.asha.org/advocacy/federal/idea/04-law-

specific-ld/>
Center For Parent Information and Resources. Learning Disabilities.
<http://www.parentcenterhub.org/repository/ld/>
Understood Learning Disabilities, Facts, and Trends
<https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/gettingstarted/what-you-need- to-know/learning-disabilities-facts-trends-and-stats>