Stated Characteristics: Nathan Vanhoy

Stated Characteristics Nathan VanHoy is a young boy who lives near Raleigh, North Carolina with his two parents, Lois Geers and Mike VanHoy. Both Ms. Geers and Mr. VanHoy wanted to expose Nathan to early learning experiences that promoted the growth of world knowledge; these experiences included going to museums, traveling, and reading. Moreover, Nathan’s passion for sport activities developed his leadership abilities and his social skills. Nathan’s parents assumed their son would experience academic success as a result of these past life experiences and interests. However, academic roadblocks became evident early in first grade (Kirk, 2002). Nathan’s first grade teacher, Ms. Stanton, reported that he did not know the alphabet. Furthermore,
Nathan’s parents found this to be the simplest remedy for their son’s struggles but Nathan’s self-esteem worsened. After Nathan successfully completed the first grade, Ms. Geers felt that individualized attention from a summer tutor would help prepare Nathan for the next school year. At the conclusion of summer, the tutor reported that Nathan was progressing satisfactorily and was on track with his typically developing peers. However, after only nine weeks of school, Nathan’s difficulty with reading and math resurfaced because he was unable to depend on his primary coping strategy of memorization when he encountered new material. The return of academic problem caused Nathan’s family to seek out more intensive testing which revealed Nathan’s difficulty with phonemic awareness (Kirk,
The first tier of interventions would be aimed at the entire class and includes the provision of evidence-based reading instruction (Joseph, 2008). Moreover, students’ progress is determined during the beginning, middle, and end of the school year by assessing benchmarks set forth by the school (Joseph, 2008). Also, the progress of at-risk students should be continuously monitored (What Works Clearinghouse, 2009). After the students are assessed, the bottom 25% receive tier two support, which consists of differentiated instruction based on assessments of reading abilities (Joseph, 2008; What Works Clearinghouse, 2009). However, not all student wilucceed with the additional support offered by secondary interventions; these students then receive tertiary interventions. These students receive intensive instruction that promote further development of reading proficiency (What Works Clearinghouse, 2009). Tier three supports for a student experiencing difficulty with phonemic awareness may include using sound boxes (Joseph, 2008). Overall, the usage of RtI is beneficial for students because early intervention and continuous intervention are essential pieces to academic success (Mulholland,