This one is much less complex than what is outlined in the second site in particular, mostly because this information is mostly for their records and isn't really going to affect him one way or another, since I am going to be homeschooling him.
Here is a Step by Step Checklist for WRiting a PLAAFP (PDF). Here's a worksheet in PDF. Here's more information.
Aidan is turning nine on June 2, 1999 and is generally working at a mid to late kindergarten level. I have him placed at “special needs first grade” level. This is a description of the materials we are using with him in the homeschool, a summary of where he is academically, and a brief statement of goals for the upcoming year.
Phonics and Literacy
For reading and phonics, we are using Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. He is on Lesson 34. We spend a lot of time reviewing so it has taken the better part of the year to get to that point. He knows all the upper and lower-case letters by name and by sound, and recognizes some of the phonograms, and can sound out CVCS with ease, but still has difficulty with blending, so he needs help to actually comprehend the words he is sounding out. He recognizes a few CVCs – like “cat”, “top”, “bus” – and can read them and spell them from memory. We play various word-building games like “what does X (word) start with?” and “What rhymes with (word)?” -- he does well with starting sounds but is still having trouble grasping the rhyming concept, though he knows several rhymes from memory.
In the next year my goals for Aidan are that he progress up to lesson 75 in the 100 Easy Lessons book, which will bring him up to a mid to late first grade reading level, and be able to recognize words in his environment -- for example, in easy books, street signs, and that kind of thing.
Penmanship
For penmanship, he is just starting the Handwriting without Tears first grade book, having finished the pre-Kindergarten and kindergarten books over the past couple of years. He can trace letters fairly well but has great difficulty in free-handing letter shapes, even when he has a model in front of him to copy. We have worked a lot with the Handwriting without Tears wooden letter forms and it took him a lot of time to be able to construct letters with these. He can draw lines and curves fairly easily and has a fairly good grasp on the pen and fairly good posture and pencil pressure, according to Aidan’s occupational therapist. His difficulty seems to lie in planning and constructing a letter shape. He has made some progress with verbal instructions in handwriting (start at the top, draw a line down, now back up and make a curve). I think that a system of verbal instructions along with tracing and copying – in other words, a multi-sensory approach – is going to be the best way to go with him next year.
Goals for Aidan in the next year are that he is able to write all the lower case letters and form some short words. We are also looking into the possibility of an alphabetic keyboard in order to allow him to progress in word and sentence composition while his writing skills catch up.
Arithmetic and Numeracy
For arithmetic, Aidan is using the Horizon Kindergarten Math book as a basic text, along with Miquon Math – Orange level which is a kindergarten-level book as well. He recognizes and can name numbers up to 20 with fair to good accuracy and is emerging in recognition and naming of high numbers up to 100. He understands the concept of counting and can rote-count up to 20 (skipping 15 usually) and higher, with guidance. However, he is still working on accuracy with one-to-one correspondence, since he tends to skip or double-count objects. He does better with manipulating real life objects in counting than he does with counting shapes on a page.
He understands “more” “less” “larger” “smaller” as verbal concepts and can judge comparatively with food portions and that kind of thing, but has trouble applying the concept to numbered groups of objects. He also has trouble dealing with sets of more than two. So for example, he can easily match two similar objects, and can often pick out “which is different” but still makes mistakes in picking out “which one doesn’t belong” with a group of objects. His problem doesn’t seem to be in observation per se, since he notices very subtle differences between two things, but rather in perceiving and categorizing several objects at a time.
He has no trouble recognizing shapes or colors. This has been easy for him for a couple of years now.
We have started working with addition and subtraction terminology and with adding and taking-away objects in real life using number lines and concrete items. He is very interested in charts and symbols so we play quite a bit with hundreds-charts, clocks, calendars and other kinds of measurement systems.
Goals for Aidan in the next year are that he will develop a larger math-related vocabulary and have greater accuracy in counting, measuring quantities, and understanding the concepts of addition and subtraction, plus be able to work with clocks and calendars and recognize and name larger numbers.
Other Areas
Aidan has access to lots of arts and crafts materials, musical experiences, and books. In the homeschool he is in an environment filled with access to a variety of conversational interactions and life skills experiences. He loves to converse and play word games and musical perception games. One of his favorite games is to take a familiar song and put new words to it, and he is very good at it.
His attention span for listening to stories is still at the pre-Kindergarten stage. He enjoys board books with pictures of objects, and simple rhyming or pattern-type books like “Are you My Mother?” or “Brown Bear, Brown Bear.” He does listen to more complex folk tales and fiction that I read to his siblings and does pick out bits of them and repeat them even though he is usually playing when I am reading them.
We use an informal theme-based approach to allow him to delve into subjects that are of interest to him. We make use of library books, images and pages from the internet, and real life experiences to develop his knowledge and skills in those areas. A few examples from the past year have been: types of vehicles, flags of the world, medical procedures, kitchen skills, clocks, calendars, and days of the week.
He plays often with construction toys like Duplos and blocks; educational games like puzzles; card games; a felt-board; a word-building box; magnet letters; pattern-beads; lacing boards; and electronic quiz games that teach phonics and math concepts.
He is quite proficient with computer use and knows how to pick out letters on a keyboard.
He loves the outdoors and spends a lot of time in our yard or playing on his scooter.
He struggles with new concepts and often appears at a disadvantage when introduced to something for the first time. However, with repetition he gains confidence and competence quickly, particularly with areas where he can use concrete objects or make use of a patterned routine.
We are looking into some public-school alternatives for him such as a charter school based in the county area and the California Virtual Academy. We have not made any decisions in this area yet. The decisions would be based on comparing the benefits he would receive by enrolling in these alternatives in terms of more services and support/guidance, versus the disadvantages in terms of less flexibility for his medical and developmental needs and more travelling time required.
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