How Can Special Educators Best Support Response-To-Intervention Practices Within the General Educational Setting?

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How Can Special Educators Best Support
Response-To-Intervention Practices Within the
General Educational Setting?

• A Speech Language Pathologists Perspective

By Eve Mills M.A. CCC-SLP
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What Does the Research Say?

• Koustsoftas, Harmon and Gray, from Arizona
  State University, Tempe, evaluated the
  effectiveness of a Tier 2 intervention designed
  to increase the phonemic awareness skills of at
  risk preschoolers in their 2009 study
• The Effect of Tier 2 Intervention for Phonemic
  Awareness in a Response-To-Intervention Model in
  Low-Income Preschool Classrooms

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Method

• 34 preschoolers participated in small groups, 2
  times a week for 6 weeks, for beginning sound
  awareness.
• Lessons were provided by trained teachers and
  SLPs from scripted materials.
• Multiple baseline across participants treatment
  design

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Results

• Intervention was successful in improving
  beginning sounds awareness skills in 71 of the
  children.
• Beginning sound awareness skills of children
  studies were tested in the fall of kindergarten.
  Results indicated smaller percentages of children
  from Tier 2 preschool intervention groups were
  classified as being at risk than in the school
  district as a whole.

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Conclusion

• Over a relatively short period of time, at risk
  preschoolers phonemic awareness skills were
  increased through small-group Tier 2 intervention
  provided by qualified professionals.
• Research supports Tier 2 interventions can
  positively impact the future reading skills of
  children who are at risk for later reading
  difficulties.

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Limitations

• Special education eligibility was unknown for
  students participating in the study- students may
  have been receiving interventions in addition to
  Tier 2 groups.
• Standardized measures were not used.
• Small sample size

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Speech Language Pathologists Involvement in
Responsive-To-Intervention Activities A
Complement to Curriculum-Relevant PracticeBy
Maureen Staskowski PhD CCC-SLP and Elizabeth
Rivera MA, CCC-SLP

• Best Practice Article Review

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SLPs Roles are Changing

• Shift from traditional medically-based model

• Diagnosis-standardized testing and etiology
  based
• Treat-pull-out sessions regularly scheduled and
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• Cure-clinic within the school design with goals
  separate from the curriculum

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Curriculum-Relevant Model

• Treatment driven by the idea that language and
  speech abilities have a significant impact on
  school success-both academic and social

• Dynamic assessments not solely limited to
  standardized testing
• Goals based upon functional and academic needs
  within curricular context
• Services delivered in classroom, or therapy rooms
  and with groups of peers.

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RTI Model

• Presents new opportunities for SLPs to extend
  curriculum-relevant practices to students with
  and without communication disorders.

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Three-Tiered Model of RTI

• Tier I
• includes all students taking part in the general
  education curriculum.
• Tier II
• Students identified as being at risk for reading
  failure
• Supplemental interventions
• Tier III
• Students who have not responded to Tier I or Tier
  II interventions and need a special education
  referral

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SLPs Involvement in RTI Interventions

• Tier I     
• Work at the school building to district level
  to plan professional development and group
  instruction for all, focused on language and
  literacy, whether or not the classroom includes
  students on the caseload.

• Word decoding
• Phonemic awareness
• Social skills for peer interactions
• Reading comprehension
• Note and test-taking strategies

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SLPs Involvement in RTI Interventions

• Tier II
• Work with school support team members to monitor
  progress of students identified as at-risk.
• Help teachers design and implement specialized
  instruction for those who are not responding to
  general classroom instruction, including small
  group instruction in phonics, phonemic awareness,
  word-decoding, and reading comprehension.

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SLPs Involvement in RTI Interventions

• Tier III
• Before any special education services are
  recommended, it should be determined that the
  student has difficulty in either Tier I or Tier
  II and in some cases, even in intensive Tier III
  instruction.

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Response-To-Intervention SLPsas Linchpins in
Secondary SchoolsBy Barbard Ehren EdD CCC-SLP

• Best Practice Article Review

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RTI at the Secondary Level

• Most conversations about RTI only center upon
  approaches with younger children.
• SLPs are uniquely qualified to assist with
  literacy practices at the secondary level based
  upon training in literacy.

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Ehren, (2009) listsSeven Steps to Success for
the implementation of RTI Initiatives at the
Secondary Level
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• STEP 1
• START SMALL

• Begin with and continue educating other staff
  about why SLPs are involved.
• Observe general education classrooms, especially
  Language Arts.
• Work with small groups of general education
  students first and ease into co-teaching.
• Review cumulative files to identify students who
  are at-risk.

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STEP 2SELF EDUCATE

• Become proficient in all aspects of literacy as
  well as grade-level academic standards.
• Know specific content vocabulary and how it is
  being taught.
• Become involved in school-wide professional
  development regarding literacy.

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STEP 3VOLUNTEER YOUR SKILLS SERVICES

• Ask questions and learn how you can integrate
  your skills and services into the curriculum.
• Look at how homework, tests, quizzes, and
  contents are being presented, and how they can be
  adjusted for struggling students.
• Ask to sit in on grade level meetings, department
  meetings etc.

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STEP 4DEVELOP A GAME PLAN

• Do this for the purposes of time frames, staying
  on task, and communicating better with staff.
• Gain administrative support for the changes you
  are proposing before presenting them to staff.

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STEP 5HAVE REGULAR CONTACT WITH TEACHERS AND
ADMINISTRATORS

• Develop a core group of staff members to help
  determine in a timely manner intervention needs
  and student progress.

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STEP 6CREATE A FLEXABLE DAILY SCHEDULE

• One option is to change your schedule every nine
  weeks so that you can be available for classrooms
  on a rotating basis.
• Be open to changing your schedule based upon
  student need.
• Create new definition of workload
• Refrain from conceptualizing RTI as adding-on
  to existing caseload.
• Eliminate head counting as caseload approach

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STEP 7CULTIVATE BUILDING AND DISTRICT
ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT

• Commitment to SLPs role by administrators is key
  to the success of this model.

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How does all the information fit together?

• No one magic formula for becoming involved in RTI
  initiatives as each school presents unique
  challenges.
• Research clearly defines, targeting students
  identified as at-risk for future literacy
  failure and providing appropriate, sound, and
  consistent interventions shows promising evidence
  for literacy acquisition at all skill and grade
  levels (Koutsoftas, Harmon, Gray,
  2009Staskowski Rivera, 2005 Ehren, 2009).

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What am I doing?
What will I do?

• Administrative support gained
• Educating parents on service delivery models
• SLP staff buy-in
• RTI summer study group
• Member of Student Support Team-Elementary Level
• Using Grade Level Expectations to from IEP goals
  and objectives
• Taking small groups of kindergarteners
  weekly-initial sound fluency
• Enrolled to take Writers Workshop trainings next
  year

• Gaining administrative support at the building
  levels
• Servicing students in classroom the majority of
  the time as appropriate
• General and special education staff buy-in for
  role changes of SLPs
• Professional development for staff on support
  SLPs can provide.
• Member of Student Support Team-Secondary
• Increase dynamic assessment practices into MET
  evaluations.
• Increase small group Tier II numbers with
  students not on caseload.
• Assist in general education classroom with
  Writers Workshop weekly.

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ReferencesEhren, Barbara J. (2009, May
5). Response-to-intervention SLPs as linchpins
in secondary schools. The ASHA Leader
American Speech-Language Hearing Association,
14, 10-13. Koutsoftas, Anthony D., Harmon, Mary
Towle., Gray, Shelley. (2009). The effect of
tier 2 intervention for phonemic awareness in a
response-to- intervention model in low-income
preschool classrooms. Language, Speech, and
Hearing Services in Schools, 40,
116-130. National Association of State
Directors of Special Education, Incorporated
Council of Administrators of Special Education.
(2006). NASDSE and CASE White Paper on RTI
White Paper. Retrieved from http//www.nasdse.
org/Projects/ResponToInterventionRtIProject/tabid
/411/Default.aspx Staskowski, M. Rivera, E.A.
(2005). Speech-language pathologists
involvement in responsiveness to intervention
activities a complement to curriculum- relevant
practice. Topics in Language Disorders, 25,
132-147.