It's not unusual for students to have trouble adjusting to junior high school, so Ms. Cecere typically waits a couple of months after each new school year has started before contacting parents whose children are struggling in her classes. But she makes an exception in Nathan's case when she sees just how much difficulty he has from the very first day. Concerned about Nathan's progress, she arranges a meeting with Nathan and his parents, Mr. and Ms. Hamlin, one afternoon in early October.
Beginning the meeting, Ms. Cecere says, "I'm worried about how Nathan is doing in my German class. He has yet to turn in a test or quiz completed from start to finish--he usually leaves at least half of the items blank. It puzzles me, though. He almost always gets the questions that he does answer correct. And when I ask him about questions that he hasn't responded to, he seems to know the answers to them well enough."
"Sometimes I forget to finish my tests," Nathan explains. "I get distracted a lot."
"I'm like that, too," Mr. Hamlin observes. "I start thinking about other things and lose track of what I'm doing. Like father, like son, I suppose."
"I'm seeing a similar pattern in Nathan's other work," Ms. Cecere continues. "For example, he rarely completes the written exercises that I give in class each day. And when I look at my grade book, I see that Nathan hasn't turned in a single homework assignment all year."
"That surprises me," Ms. Hamlin says. "I make sure that Nathan works on his homework every night. In fact, last night I helped him conjugate the three new verbs you assigned yesterday."
"Well, Nathan didn't turn that assignment in today," Ms. Cecere replies. Mr. and Ms. Hamlin look questioningly at their son.
"I thought I handed it in," he tells them, "but I guess not."
"Nathan, I know you are a bright young man, because you always seem to have the right answer when I call on you. So I'm at a loss to explain why you're not getting your work done."
Mr. Hamlin pauses, seemingly gathering his thoughts together, and then speaks. "I think we should probably tell you, Ms. Cecere, that when Nathan was in second grade, he was diagnosed as having a learning disability. He received special services in his elementary school's resource room for several years after that. But he seems to have licked a lot of the problems he had then. His mother and I would really like him to stay in your class."
Ms. Hamlin pats her son on the knee and adds, "I agree. I don't want him in any more resource rooms."
"Oh, I certainly don't want to get rid of Nathan," Ms. Cecere assures both parents. "On the contrary, I set up this meeting thinking that by putting our heads together, we might identify some strategies to help Nathan be more successful in my class. You said that Nathan received special services when he was in elementary school. What kinds of things seemed to work for him then?"
Ms. Hamlin opens her mouth to reply, but Nathan interrupts. "The doctor put me on drugs because the teachers said I was hyperactive. The drugs made me sleepy all the time. No more drugs!"
"OK," Ms. Cecere says. "What other strategies do you think we could try?"
1. What classic symptoms of a learning disability does Nathan exhibit?
2. What accommodations has Nathan received in the past?
3. What strategies would you recommend to help Nathan work with his learning diability? Why?
4. Is Nathan experiencing a cultural mismatch? Justify your response with examples from the case study.
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