Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Isaiah, an eleven old boy, is a 3rd-grade student diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and currently received special education services as WP Elementary School. With his condition, his special education teachers have reported that he experiences difficulties with impulse control, paying attention, retaining information, following directions in addition to remembering numerals and letters. According to Taddei et al., (2011), ADHD affects typically an individual’s ability to concentrate and control impulsive behaviors, which thus explains the academic difficulties faced by Isaiah. However, over time, the special education environment has enhanced most of his academic skills. His teacher’s report indicates that he is a pleasing student with both weaknesses and strengths as any other person. Unlike most children with ADHD, his assignments are always complete on time, he is eager to learn new things, and his academic work has improved significantly. Also, he has not demonstrated any significant concerns, both behaviorally and socially. However, his teacher’s concern is related to difficulties in math concepts, remembering basic sight terms, and reading decoding. With respect, to the current educational assessment, it is clear that Isaiah has significantly improved based on his ability to adapt despite his low performance in tasks that requires cognitive concentration.
Cognitive Assessment
Previous and current cognitive evaluations done at 6 and 11 years, respectively demonstrate that Isaiah’s intelligence is below average when compared to peers his age. Undoubtedly, ADHD affects typically an individual’s cognitive and language development resulting in significant expression and comprehension difficulties. The non-verbal intelligence evaluation is a norm reference measure tool with regard to abstract reasoning, problem-solving, intelligence, and aptitude that does not require language use. However, given that the test requires symbolic gestures to indicate the chosen options, this, therefore, illustrate that his cognitive performance is better due to his condition. The condition affects his expression in terms of controlling automatic movement and might, therefore, affect his gestures as a whole. His intellectual functioning ranked at 9 percent is below average, which is affected by the low development of some cognitive domains. Also he scored a low rank in working memory, which is one of the symptoms of ADHD. Working memory mainly entails the capability to retain information in an individual’s immediate awareness, long enough to use it later (Taddei et al., 2011). Working memory is mainly gauged based on activities that involve following listed steps.
Isaiah demonstrated to recall a sequence of numbers following an ascending order and letter in alphabetical order as directed. His ability to pay attention, focus, and exercise mental control is significantly low when compared to that of his peers, which affects his ability to gather and retain information in the short run. Working memory plays an integral part in influencing cognitive functioning and academic knowledge acquisition. His teacher raised concerns about reading decoding, math comprehension, and recalling numbers, which are mainly dependent on sufficient working of the memory.
Academic Assessment
With regard to the presented data from the assessment, Isaiah has significant academic difficulties. His mental performance is below average, which affects his academic preparedness to learn and perform well. The assessment having been done in consideration of a range of delays in expression, reasoning, language, and memory, his academic performance when compared to that of peers is below average. In the knowledge scale, he scored averagely in non-verbal skills.
On the other hand, in the quantitative sector, a poor performance was demonstrated based on difficulties with identification of necessary numbers, expression in non-verbal and verbal language and receptivity. In terms of the working memory, it was reported that retaining and gathering information is a major challenge which affects his academic performance which mainly relies on the ability to memorize and apply the acquired knowledge in different situations. Also, concerning academic readiness, Isaiah’s performance indicated that his vocabulary skills were within the low range when compared to his peers, which thus demonstrate one of his leading strengths.
Other Assessment
Isaiah has well developed non-verbal skills than verbal comprehension abilities. It is evident that based on the below average performance of his working memory, his comprehension skills are adversely affected. His academic readiness is within the delayed segment as a whole, and based on the assessment, he experiences major challenges with tasks that involve recognition of basic letters and numbers. Besides, issues with expressions, the assessment concluded that his overall performance is mainly affected by his working memory, which is extremely low. Working memory serves a vital role in influencing both cognitive performance and academic learning, which explains why children with learning disabilities usually experience difficulties with working memory.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Similar to any other individual both strengths and weaknesses characterize Isaiah. First, his teacher noted that he is a pleasant student whose only desire is to do his best and is always eager to learn new things. Also, he is always prepared for all his classes as the most enthusiastic learner. Home academic tasks and classroom assignments are generally completed on time while his printing and work are improving significantly. Based on his account, he does not, therefore, show any need for concerns both socially and behaviorally. Children with ADHD are known to be noisy and disruptive. However, he gets noisy at times on the bus and talks rather too much but does not cause disruption. He is v,ery helpful in class as he tries to interact with his classmates but can get irritated by voices and misbehaviors of others. He is an energetic student who enjoys after school activities and respects all adults. Some of his leading skills include reading a comprehension, and he is learning on sounding out words. However, some of the weaknesses include his inability to recall the basic sight of words and mathematics concepts alongside reading decoding.
Diagnostic Considerations & Placement
Delayed expression, working memory, and intellectual challenges were considered while making the assessment. With the index coding that is related to information processing and comprehension, his performance was poor. In that the index indicates that his main challenges lie in paying attention to the provided details, sequential and visual processing, visual scanning skills, memory control, motor skills, and learning skills are poorly developed when compared to children of the same age. Learning is a process that involves a range of routine in processing information, and any weakness in the processor is likely to affect an individual’s comprehension of information, and the case of Isaiah illustrates present difficulties. Difficulties in the processing are time-consuming, which affects his ability to understand complex materials (Karalunas et al., 2018). Isaiah information processing is slower than that of his age mates, thus requiring more time for him to make responses.
Learning Considerations
Some of the notable learning consideration includes difficulties in expression and recognizing numbers and letters. Isaiah’s cognitive abilities are not fully developed as those of peers, which affect his intellectual and academic functioning. In search, he needs to learn in an environment that encourages growth by giving him the opportunity to learn and process information. As an individual suffering from ADHD, his cognitive skills are delayed, and such considerations are a major requirement. As his main weaknesses lie in activities that require mental control such as math concept this should be the focus which will have a positive impact on the assessment. He ought to be gauged against students with ADHD based on his weaknesses.
Instructional Planning and Differentiation
Several ways exist in which instructions can be differentiated, particularly through content, learning environment, and process. For content, learning content is supposed to cover the set standards but is worth noting that some students presents difficulties that affect their familiarity with the concepts based on the inability to master. Thus content can be differentiated by designing group-based activities that encourage collaboration, reasoning, remembering, analyzing, applying, and evaluating (Wesley, 2014). Also as eve,ry student has a different learning process, the approach of delivering instruction need to be adjusted. Lastly, a flexible learning environment promotes growth.
Instructional Planning, Accommodations & Modifications
The modification includes making changes on the elements of learning such as content, process, and learning environment to accommodate the diverse mastery and learning style of every student (Wesley, 2014). Modification, therefore, refers to adjustment on what students should learn based on each person’s abilities. Thus, both accommodation and modification are needed to alter the learning style for Isaiah as he presents difficulties in recognizing letters and words as well as scanning visuals. Accommodations provide learners with equal learning opportunities to demonstrate their ability to perform.
Discussion of Assessment Process
Students with disabilities need to be tested in a manner that allows them to grow irrespective of their weaknesses. In this context, the focus should be based on their disabilities as a whole. The student needs to be assessed individually by focusing on areas that require more attention to support knowledge development (Wesley, 2014). In that, the student should be allowed to complete tasks that are similar to those of normal kids but following a different setting, format, and presentation. The objective is not to highlight their difficulties but to offer equal opportunities that promote better performance.