Response To Intervention (RTI)

I'll be honest, I didn't know much about RTI, because my school wasn't incorporating this approach/ response when dealing with children who were missing the mark in the general education class. Generally, when children were having difficulty, teachers altered instruction, modified homework, did small grouping, did one-on-one instruction, referred the student to after-school tutoring and a host of other interventions.  Well, when you think about it we were doing RTI, we just didn’t know it.

What’s RTI?

RTI is the approach that eliminates a “wait to fail” situation with students who are having issues within the general education setting. This approach allows the teacher to see the need and address it as soon as possible with a host of specialists, special education staff and others to help the child progress. While  this is happening the child continues to learn in the classroom. Think of it this way….RTI is…W.I.E.M – Watching, Intervening, Evaluating and Monitoring and this cycle repeats over and over until there are results.

One thing I forgot to mention is that RTI consists of providing scientific, research based instruction and interventions that are monitored to see if the student is responding to the additional instruction/intervention. For the RTI model look at the following figure:

 

So How Does It Look?

Let’s say in my classroom I have a child who is struggling with her reading. She has problems sounding out words and continues to struggles with letter/vowel sounds. I, the teacher steps in, pulling the student in small groups or even one-on-one instruction. I may need to reteach objectives or use other techniques or approaches that correlate to the student’s learning style. I review data from formative assessments and summative assessments if they are available. I see the problem and address the issue immediately. I bring this information to the attention of my RTI coordinators and informs them of the child’s issues. The coordinators gives me suggestions on things to do within the classroom to help the students. As I continue with the interventions and the suggestions from the RTI team and my own strategies; we’re all watching and monitoring the child’s progress. If the problem persists, additional intervention is provided to the student, maybe by another staff person. If the problem continues to persist more intervention is provided, monitored and evaluated. We are all watching to see if these interventions are producing any results or in medical terms, “is the child responding to the medications, or do we need to try a more potent drug” (this may be a helpful illustration…lol).

As this is going on the student continues to be taught in the general education setting. The student is not removed from the setting, but just given more support. While the student is receiving the extra support, the expectations remain the same and the overall standard of high expectations remains intact. The student must never feel singled out or less than, what’s expected from the other children is the same across the board. Children must understand that the extra assistance is in place to help them grow and progress. RTI is a benefit to help children reach their fullest potential and not for them to be incorrectly identified as having a disability.