RTI: Response to Intervention

An Evidence-Based Practice

Current prevalence data show that more than 1/3 of nation’s 4th graders do not exhibit basic reading proficiency

Striking disproportionate representation of African Amercian (60% below basic),

Hispanic (56% below basic), and low-income students (55% below basic)

RTI is an evidence-based initiative that seeks to redefine how reading disabilities are identified and addressed within the public school system.

RTI is a prevention model that features multiple tiers of reading interventions that are layered on pupils based on their individual needs.

3-tiered approach of RTI First tier: general classroom instruction

All children receive scientifically-based reading instruction from preschool forward

Second tier: supplemental interventions Additional support in developing critical early reading

skills provided to at-risk students whose growth trajectory lags during preK, K, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade

Third tier: special education placement Children who fail to achieve criterion levels of reading

performance by 3rd grade (or beyond) receive in-depth assessment to identify whether RD is present. If RD is indicated, the child receives special education services.

Three Principles of Practice: Roles and Tools of SLP Principle 1: Adequacy of Children’s Primary Reading

Instruction Environments

Principle 2: Children’s literacy achievements in the first-tier instructional environment should be monitored carefully to identify when and If additional tiers of support are needed

Principle 3: Additional ties of support should duplicate and extend the instruction of the first-tier environment and children’s performance in these tiers should be monitored carefully

Principle 1: Adequacy of Children’s Primary Reading Instruction Environments

Variability in the quality of first-tier reading instruction relates to the structurestructure and processprocess of reading instruction Structural variables include presence of a classroom library,

print on the walls, use of a core curriculum (targets and types of activities for reading development), and daily schedule (time allotted for large-group, small-group, and one-on-one instruction)

Process variables include how instruction occurs, such as teachers’ responsiveness to individual children’s needs, teachers’ delivery of high-quality feedback during instruction, and teachers’ use of a variety of learning formats

Tools for an Audit of Adequacy of First Tier Instruction

Instrument Grade Levels Focus

Classroom Literacy Environmental Profile

Preschool and early elementary grades

Quantity and use of literacy tools, organization of classroom for literacy instruction, quality of literacy instruction, student engagement in literacy activities

Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale

Preschool Overall classroom organization, including global assessment of children’s language-reasoning experiences

Early Literacy and Language Classroom Observation (ELLCO)

Preschool Overall classroom organization, literacy environment checklist, teacher interview

Principle 1

Improving the quality of first-tier instruction, to include both structural and process variables, can mitigate early delays in reading development

SLPs who are concerned with making the largest difference in the reading potential of their students should focus their attention on ensuring the quality of the first-tier learning environment in which their students are learning to read.

Results from ELLCO (Justice, 2006)

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Principle 2: Monitoring First-Tier Instructional Environment

Two primary types of assessment in RTI

Benchmark measures

Progress Monitoring measures

Benchmark Measures

Benchmark measures used to evaluate classroom performance in reading as a whole, to set instructional goals for entire class, and to organize students into small flexible groups for differentiated instruction PALS (Phonological Awareness and Literacy

Screening) Typically administered in the fall and spring of the

academic year

Progress Monitoring Also called curriculum-based measures, typically supplement the

use of benchmark measures Used to formally evaluate individual children’s performance on

specific indicators of progress within the classroom curriculum Differ from benchmark measures in that they are given relatively

frequently, possibly as often as every 2-3 weeks Used to track children’s performance within the curriculum and to

identify those children who lag in literacy growth (specific, narrow measures) DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) K-6th

grade Get It, Got It, Go! (downward extension of DIBELS) PreK

Principle 3: Supplemental Support in Second Tier

Second Tier designed to provide an extra dose of emergent or early reading instruction to struggling learners

Generally consists of small group sessions (30 min 2-3x/wk for preschool and kindergarten; 30-45 min 2-3x/wk for first and second graders)

Often replicate the learning goals and materials of first tier environment, but provided with greater intensity, in smaller, more homogenous groups of students

Second Tier Targets: Emergent Literacy

Alphabet knowledge Upper and lower case letters Identification (recognition) and naming

Print knowledge Knowledge and function of print conventions

Phonological awareness Rhyme, sound awareness/identification, blending,

segmentation Vocabulary

Facilitates reading comprehension, whereas other aspects of emergent literacy are directly linked to decoding

Second Tier Targets: Early Reading Phonemic awareness

Sensitivity to the sound structure of language at a subsyllabic level of the phoneme (blending, segmentation, and manipulation)

Phonics Phoneme-grapheme correspondence

Fluency Ability to read text automatically, efficiently, and without error

Vocabulary Reading vocabulary (mapping written words to oral vocabulary)

Reading comprehension Understanding what is read Intentional, problem-solving, and thinking processes involved

when interacting with text

Tier II Interventions

Early reading interventions: START-In