The Case of Don
Don, a fourth grader aged 10:8 (years:months), was
identified as “profoundly learning disabled” by the school
pyschologist. Exacerbating his school-related difficulties
was high absenteeism due to severe bouts of asthma.
Descriptions of his learning disability included poor fine
motor skills contributing to his difficulty with the mechanical
aspects of writing and significant delays learning to
read and understand text. He had been receiving resource
consulting services from a teacher for students with
learning disabilities since first grade. In the fourth grade,
these services included three 1-hour periods per week that
were focused on reading instruction. Results of the standardized
reading achievement test administered at the
beginning of fourth grade indicated that Don was in the
eighteenth percentile on the vocabulary measure and in the