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1. Manus Academy Tutoring Student
(A)
2. Manus Academy Tutoring Student (B)
3. Manus Academy Consultation with
Student and Family
4. Manus Academy School Student
The following case studies detail the high degree
of customized instruction we put into each student’s
program. They also illustrate how we coordinate
and design critical support elements for family
members and educators.
Case
Study #1 – Manus Academy Tutoring
Student
Jason was a fourth grade student at a local, public
school. He was referred to us by a psychologist
who tested him and diagnosed a written expression
disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Jason’s school problems stemmed from his difficulty
in these areas:
- writing neatly and fluently
- expressing his thoughts on paper
- organizing his homework, time & school
materials
- sustaining attention
School was very stressful for Jason. He wanted to
do well, but didn’t know how. He often came
home from school each day frustrated and upset.
Getting him to do his homework usually resulted
in a battle. By the time Jason and his mother saw
us, they were both upset, frustrated and worn-out.
Jason’s assessment and review resulted in
the following individualized instructional program:
- intensive remedial work to build his writing
ability
- training on how to use effective homework
strategies so he could complete his homework
accurately, in a timely manner and with minimal
assistance from his mother
- using his own school books and assignments
to coach him and to reinforce the above strategies
on assignments and upcoming tests
- working closely with the school to set up
these accommodations so Jason could function
successfully in that environment in spite of
his disabilities:
a. sitting close to the teacher
b. giving test answers orally when the test required
lengthy written answers
c. having teachers at school communicate frequently
with Jason’s tutor at CES
Frequent teacher contacts allowed the tutor to determine
the degree of improvement in his writing at school,
how well the homework and study strategies were
working in the classroom and in which areas Jason
needed to continue training.
To help Jason and his mother re-establish the warm
and nurturing relationship they had before the homework
wars began, the tutor showed his mother how to effectively
supervise Jason’s homework and study hour
and help Jason when he needed assistance. The tutor
also instructed Jason and his mother to report to
her any problems they had concerning school. Her
regular interventions and guidance helped the family
manage school problems effectively and it allowed
them to focus on other activities besides schoolwork.
With ongoing support and coaching from his tutor,
Jason began strengthening his writing skills and
refining his homework and study habits. This led
to higher grades, more self-esteem and an overall
improvement in how he felt about himself and his
relationship with his family.
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Case
Study #2 – Manus Academy Tutoring
Student
Brian was a ninth grade student at a local, public
school. He was a skillful athlete who played on
the high school football team in the fall and the
basketball team in the winter. Up until sixth grade,
Brian averaged A’s and B’s in school.
Beginning in the seventh grade, his grades started
to include a few C’s. In the eighth grade,
he got his first D in general science. In the ninth
grade, Brian felt he was losing even more control
over his schoolwork and didn’t know how to
stop his downward spiral.
At the beginning of the second quarter, Brian’s
father asked if we could help Brian organize himself
and learn some study skills. According to Brian’s
teachers, Brian was capable of earning good grades
if he just applied himself more to his schoolwork.
He participated in class well, seemed to understand
the material, but did poorly on tests.
During our initial assessment of Brian, he demonstrated
well-developed reading, written expression and math
skills, although he had a tendency to make careless
errors in math. He expressed himself well and seemed
to have a good ability to focus and sustain attention.
While Brian showed good skill development and capability
in most academic areas, he didn’t know how
to study or prepare for tests. When asked how he
studied for tests, he said, “I look over the
information the night before.”
Brian showed the same pattern that many otherwise
capable students have shown. They succeeded in elementary
and early middle school because they participated
in class well, learned the information and completed
their homework. They didn’t study much for
tests, but still scored well on them, because they
could manage the relatively small amount of information
these tests covered. Once they reached high school,
they didn’t realize that, to successfully
handle the greater volume of material covered in
class, they must study in addition to completing
homework.
This was the homework coaching program we developed
for Brian:
- We scheduled Brian to see one of our tutors
twice weekly for an hour each session followed
by another hour of independent and structured
study.
- Brian’s tutor contacted his teachers
to determine what they expected from their students,
the type of class work and homework they assigned,
how they tested, when they tested and how they
graded.
- She used this information to develop a
customized homework and study plan for Brian to
follow each day, Sunday through Thursday.
- Using his assignments and books, she showed
Brian those organizational, time management and
study skills most effective for each of his classes
and assignment types. She also showed him how
to balance the demands of his football practice
schedule with his school and home responsibilities.
- Then she showed Brian’s parents how
to effectively supervise Brian’s homework
and study sessions at home on those nights he
wasn’t seeing his teacher.
- She monitored Brian closely to ensure he was
using effective study strategies with gradually
greater degrees of efficiency.
- Every two weeks, she asked Brian’s teachers
at school to complete a brief progress report
so she could determine which study skills Brian
was applying well in each class and which areas
needed more work.
- She shared these results with Brian then
with his parents during a regularly scheduled
fifteen-minute conference call every two weeks.
During these calls, she asked Brian’s parents
for their observations of how he was following
through on his regularly scheduled study sessions
at home.
- She and Brian updated his homework coaching
program as needed based on the teachers’,
parents’ and his own observation of how
well he was applying effective strategies.
During the first eight weeks of tutoring, Brian’s
grades stabilized. They rose from mostly C’s
and D’s to C’s and a few B’s.
During the second school quarter, as Brian used
effective strategies with greater efficiency, his
grades continued to rise. He earned mostly B’s,
but made a C in algebra, because of his tendency
to make careless errors.
Brian’s tutor trained him heavily in using
strategies that increase math accuracy and decrease
careless errors. Toward the middle of the third
quarter, instead of losing an average of twelve
points per test because of careless errors, Brian
lost an average of only four points per test. As
Brian’s study habits strengthened with practice,
his other grades continued to rise and he gained
confidence in his ability to successfully manage
his school responsibilities.
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Case
Study #3 – Manus Academy Consultation
with Student and Family
Jennifer was a second grade student at a local,
private school. Her teacher referred her parents
to us for testing to determine why she had problems
with reading. We tested Jennifer and discovered
that she had underlying language problems that interfered
with her reading acquisition. She had difficulties
in these areas:
- sound awareness or ability to perceive
speech sounds (a common cause for reading problems)
- phonics
- sight word recognition
- reading fluency
- spelling
- word retrieval, or ability to say what
one wants to say at any given moment
- phrasing her thoughts clearly and logically
- vocabulary
We arranged a conference with Jennifer’s teacher,
parents and the tutor, who would see Jennifer twice
a week after school. We explained the results of
the testing to everyone and outlined the remedial
program for the teacher, tutor and parents to follow.
We gave them the teaching materials necessary to
conduct the lessons and created a schedule for everyone.
Our staff member who oversaw the case, joined Jennifer
and her tutor in a lesson every two months to check
progress and update the program. At the end of the
school year, she re-tested Jennifer to examine her
long-term gains and which skills needed further
strengthening.
With intensive language, reading and spelling remediation,
Jennifer progressed well and made substantial improvements
in her school performance. She was encouraged to
write paragraphs, one of her strengths, and read
them in front of her classmates. This public speaking
practice helped Jennifer feel more relaxed and confident
speaking to her peers.
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Case
Study #4 – Manus Academy School
Student
When we first met Tammy, she was a seventh grade
student attending a local private school. She had
a history of learning and attention difficulties
that made completing school assignments difficult
for her. By seventh grade, she had already attended
five different schools, trying to find one that
was the right fit. Tammy was bright, but could not
read fluently, write well or sustain focus long
enough to complete assignments. As a result of her
constant failure, she was starting to get depressed.
Tammy’s parents enrolled her in our school.
After reviewing her previous school records and
psycho-educational evaluations and a completing
a brief assessment of her own, our education director
developed a customized instructional program for
Tammy that included building her reading fluency,
written expression skills and her ability to complete
assignments accurately and in a timely manner.
Tammy worked in a class with four other students.
Three times a week, she also worked with a tutor
one-on-one to focus more heavily on her reading
fluency and written expression skills. Over the
course of the first semester, Tammy’s teacher
and tutor coached her heavily in using those strategies
most effective for the different activities and
assignments they gave her. They showed her strategies
that helped her perceive her assignments as quite
manageable, with a definite beginning, middle and
end, rather than as tedious, never-ending tasks.
As Tammy’s perception of the tasks changed,
her ability to complete them efficiently increased.
Tammy’s teacher and personal development coach
at Manus Academy also trained her to solve problems effectively.
Rather than give up in frustration as soon as she
perceived a problem she couldn’t handle, they
trained her to first study the problem objectively
with her teacher or classmates, define it, think
of different solutions then try one or more of them.
Tammy’s habit of avoiding problems was strong
and she needed lots of coaching to manage them effectively;
however, over the school year, she began to complete
work and manage problems more effectively. She also
made steady gains in reading fluency and written
expression. As a result of her increased skill,
Tammy started feeling happier and in more control
of her life.
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