Bw. Wise, The indomitable dinosaur builder - (and how she overcame her phonological deficit and learned to read instructions, and other things), J SPEC EDUC, 35(3), 2001, pp. 134-144
K. C. is an 11-year-old girl who had a deficit in phonological awareness wi
thout difficulties in naming speed. After 18 months of linguistically sound
, phonologically grounded therapy, she progressed from being a nonreader to
being an at least grade-level reader midway through her fourth-grade year.
Her therapy started after she had experienced 3 years of failure in school
, despite I year of pull-out remedial reading support and 4 months of after
-school remedial help. An extremely important component of her therapy was
the dedication of her mother, who served as her coach, guided by me, the th
erapist-author. K. C. and her mother practiced daily for 30 to 60 minutes,
using techniques learned in: our weekly 1-hour sessions. They also both lea
rned how to attend to positive behavior and how to teach with positive hint
ing. Seven months after completing her therapy, K. C. has maintained her ga
ins and has gained another grade level in reading as she readies herself fo
r entering fifth grade.