ABSTRACT
Lucy stands watching her fellow classmates work at the math station. One of her shoes is untied. She’s holding a paper obviously crumbled in frustration and wearing a lost look. Instead of going to her teacher to ask for help, Lucy continues to remain at the station observing her classmates. It’s Monday morning and she cannot remember all of the teacher’s instructions for the new math station. Lucy is a star second-grader in many ways. She sight-reads and performs math problems modi ed for her abilities. She also has many friends in class-often introducing her friends to newcomers such as volunteers and administrators. Lucy typically smiles when she arrives at school and hardly ever misses a day of school. However, she struggles with other skills. For example, she often does not remember the details of the stories read during circle time. Her teacher has noticed that Lucy rarely begins her work without one-on-one supervision. Lucy also struggles with tasks such as following along with the class to complete a multistep science project; placing assignments, announcements, and other belongings in her backpack to take home; and choosing and fastening appropriate outerwear when going outside to recess. According to her teacher, Lucy’s dif culty initiating schoolwork and completing projects in time to nish with her peers may trigger a cascade of missed opportunities for learning. Lucy’s teacher admitted to feeling unprepared to teach Lucy. However, she said she was actively seeking out research and methods to best optimize Lucy’s academic achievement this year.
