A NEW APPROACH TO IDENTIFYING LEARNING DISABILITIES RTI: Academics A NEW APPROACH TO IDENTIFYING LEARNING DISABILITIES

Review of One SLD Diagnostic Model Often referred to as: Discrepancy Model How it is done: Teacher referred child for assessment Psychologist performed assessment (IQ and Achievement test) Psychologist subtracted the achievement score from the IQ score Psychologist determined if any significant discrepancy b/w IQ and achievement Eligibility team meets and decides if a disability exists. Child is either placed or not placed in special education

Report back to the law. When determining whether a pupil has a specific learning disability, the public agency may use a process that determines if the pupil responds to scientific, research-based intervention as part of the evaluation procedures described in subsection 6. Other assessments in subsection 6: IQ, ACH, Social/ Emotional, Ed. hx, Dev. hx, Med. hx, Observation, Current status

Review of a Newer SLD Diagnostic Model Often referred to as: RtI (Response to Intervention) How it is done: School provides a common educational experience with common interventions for all children (Tier I). Teacher referred child for additional intervention when Tier I is not enough (Tier II). A team (often including a school psychologist, a school counselor, a lead teacher, and the referring teacher) confers to provide guidance. Baseline data is collected on the child. A “research based” intervention is administered with frequent data collection or “progress monitoring.” The team reconvenes to determine if the child has responded to the Tier II intervention. Either the child has improved, further services are provided at the general education level, or the child goes into special education.

Why is someone referred? Local norms (teacher compares child to others in class or in school) Socio-cultural differences Contextual factors (e.g., Teacher/Child fit, frequent absences, abuse, etc.)

Problems with Discrepancy No direct link b/w assessment and intervention Not consistent from state to state What is an “educationally significant discrepancy”?

What is RTI? Discrepancy is not between IQ and ACH Discrepancy is between pre- intervetion scores and post-intervention scores.

RTI Considers… Did child have adequate opportunity to learn? Is this child’s skills falling w/in what would would be expected in his/her classroom? The difference b/w acquisition (can’t do it) vs. motivation (won’t do it). Can do this by performing an assessment w/out reward and later providing it with reward and seeing if there is a significant difference.

Interventions Data supports interventions that use a combination of direct instruction and strategy. Given the various effective interventions available, practitioners may have to decide what is best for this child, in this school, at this time. Length will depend on student’s responsiveness to intervention (individual to each child).

Change in Treatment Special Ed.: IEP Determination Tertiary: Selected Intervention Secondary: Consultation Primary: Whole Class

RTI: Assumptions Intensity of intervention is matched to the degree of unresponsiveness. Change in intensity is based on inadequate response to empirically supported interventions. Decisions regarding movement are made from empirical data from multiple sources Get more data at each stage. SPED should only be an option once it has been determined that child has an inadequate response to intervention.

Requirements for RTI Dx Availability of measures to evaluate growth. Availability of research based intervention. Ability of the person providing the intervention. Ability of the person making the decision as to the child’s responsiveness.

Ways to Measure Response Measure pretest/posttest scores and calculate statistics ANCOVA using control and treatment groups. ANOVA using repeated measure design. Growth curve analysis (GCA) using hierarchical linear models Determine common growth curves for a class of students or an intervention group Determine an individual’s growth curve Compare the individual growth curve to the group’s growth curve