QUESTION: Case study report Report and Recommendations

CASE STUDY (QUESTION IS BELOW)
Child: Tom SMITH
Date of Birth: 15th July 2009
Reason for Referral
Tom is 11 years old and in Year 7 of secondary school. He has been referred to the Educational
Psychology Service by the school following concerns about his poor attention and
concentration, behaviour in class and academic attainments. Tom has previously received a lot
of support in primary school for his reading and spelling. He is currently provided with literacy
support by the secondary school but in spite of this, his progress has been slow. The school
would like to understand and support Tom’s educational needs and would like strategies and
advice to assist in intervention planning.
Background information
Tom comes from a loving and consistent home. He is the eldest of 3 children. His speech was
unclear and slightly difficult to understand when he was 3-4 years old and he was provided with
speech and language therapy following a referral by the nursery. He had frequent ear infections
when he was younger but he has passed recent hearing and eyesight tests. He is in good
general health.
Tom is of mixed heritage – his father is English with Irish ancestry and his mother is Turkish
Cypriot. His mother reported that he speaks Turkish to his grandparents and English at home.
His father and uncle are both dyslexic. His mother is also worried about his younger sister who
is struggling in school with learning and bullying.
Tom gets on well with other students – he is well liked, makes friends easily and interacts well
with other children. He is generally polite and friendly to staff and his behaviour is described as
generally good in some lessons, including PE, Art, Design Technology and Science. The
SENCo reported that Tom can work well in groups and noted that he is eager to participate and
answer questions in oral lessons, particularly when interested in the subject. He loves cooking
at home.
Areas of concern
• Not completing homework.
• Easily distracted
• Produces little work
• Does not follow teacher instructions
• Low literacy levels:
o Struggles with literacy – reading and writing.
o Handwriting is difficult to read.
o Struggles to complete his reading log (record of books that he has read)
• Does not always remember what to do in class; quickly forgets instructions.
Current support and interventions:
• Weekly small group support (n=9 pupils) focusing on phonics intervention and a reading
programme provided by the English Coordinator.
• In class, the teachers gives him warnings about his behaviour; he has received detentions for
not completing his homework.
• Half termly meetings with his parents and the SENCo.
• A language and literacy assessment was conducted in December 2019 by an independent
Speech and Language Therapist, following his referral by the school. Her assessment identified
that Tom had some difficulties with expressive and receptive language and phonological
processing.
QUESTION: Case study report
Report and Recommendations
Tom has been referred to the school Educational Psychologist (EP) , with concerns about his
slow progress in school. His form teacher thinks the problem may be around a lack of self
confidence and has provided him lots of encouragement and praise.
Due to COVID restrictions, the EP has not been able to visit the child in school or at home. As
the assistant psychologist, the EP has asked you to read the referral details (Attached:
Referral Details-1.docx above) and write a summary report for the EP.
Your report should include the following:
1. An introduction which may include:
● Reason for referral by the school.
● Aims and objectives of your report.
2. Current situation. This should include:
● A summary of the child’s strengths
● A summary of the child’s areas of difficulties.
● Facts of the case.
3. Analysis of findings and your hypothesis.
4. Recommendations for next steps. This should include:
● Areas where further data may need to be collected. Think widely about the concerns and
possible reasons for his difficulties, and show a clear link your hypotheses.
● 2-3 targets for the student’s learning.
● Recommendations to the school in terms of further information to collect, and/or
interventions and strategies to try.
● Suggestions for next steps with the parents/family.
● A review date.
NB – LINK REFERRAL CONCERNS TO DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION.
Essential readings include (but are not limited to):