Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Mixing Words Mao is a first grade student from Laos. He arrived here a year ago with his sister and two cousins. He is in the same class as one of his cousins. When they arrived, he and his cousin were at a low level of English Language Acquisition, and a low reading level. His cousin has advanced quickly, and is now on grade level, and speaks fluently. However, Mao is not. He has trouble reading, but his difficult is puzzling. He will often look at a word and swap it for a synonym. For example, when reading the book "Tall, Small, Tall", Mao looked at the title and read it, "Tall, Little, Tall." It is obvious that he knows the meaning of the word, but he consistently reads them differently than what the word says. The ESOL teacher and the classroom teacher have discussed his situation, and they both feel that he needs to be tested for placement into ESE services. However, administration does not want to do this because he is receiving language services. What should they do? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) I feel it is necessary for Mao to be tested for placement of ESE based on the relationship with what they see out of the other children in the family and how they have learned to accomplish things reading and wording with already aone year spent in the United States.. I would also recommend having his cousin become a bilingual partner on the same grade level and see if there is any improvement.