He appeared very impatient with the assessment, and the examiner is still not entirely sure if he gave his best efforts, either out boredom and the desire to “get it over with” or out of suspicion or worry based on his immigration status (The examiner would like to note at this juncture that she has been accused many times of being an INS agent, including twice in one of Mrs. S.’s other classes.) Unfortunately, Manolo’s mindset cannot be remedied by anyone other than Manolo himself, and even then only when he is ready. 

The following recommendations are based on the results of the BRI and are intended to help Manolo meet his reading potential.



Choice: In order help change Manolo’s mindset about reading and school, when it is appropriate Manolo will be allowed to read on topics that are of interest to him. Mrs. F. has agreed to give him more leeway in Biology class to research topics that may be of interest to him.



Reading Guides: Manolo will be provided with reading guides during reading assignments, particularly during challenging textbook readings. At first these will explicitly ask for details and specific information from the text and to use background information to enrich the content. As Manolo’s reading improves, the guides will be altered to be less specific until he does not need them at all. 



Additional Testing: Due to indications of inability to multi-focus, Manolo may benefit from additional testing to see if there is any underlying learning or sensory issues. 



Maintain a Personal Dictionary: With the support of his teachers, Manolo will create and regularly add to a personal dictionary of English terms he encounters during classroom  and reading assignments that he does not know. He will record the term, a definition, and the use of the term in a sentence.  Mr. F., who has Manolo for study hall, has agreed to allow Manolo computer access to online dictionaries and thesauruses to help him find proper pronunciation and similar words. This will allow Manolo to build his vocabulary, practice using words in a sentence, and connect the spelling to the proper pronunciation. This way, when Manolo sees these terms in the future he will be able to recognize them and be able to apply the correct meaning. To be used in conjunction with Vocabulary Memory Improvement (below).



Vocabulary Memory Improvement: The attached lesson plan outlines an introductory lesson plan to help improve Manolo’s memory in a less stressful way. 



After following the above recommendations for several weeks, Manolo should be reassessed with the Graded Word Lists and Oral Reading Comprehension portions of the Basic Reading Inventory. The steps taken to help Manolo progress in both word recognition and comprehension should result in improved performance on these test components. This extra practice should continue and be modified as needed in order to continue Manolo’s progress toward his reading potential. 