RTI in Early Childhood

Response to Intervention

in Early Childhod

The purpose of R&R is to identify signs of learning problems at an early age. R&R encourages research-based instruction and data driven interventions. The three tiers of R&R include 1) universal screening and progress monitoring which allows for recognition of potential problems. 2) Response to recognized difficulties with targeted interventions. 3) Collaborative problem solving between teachers, service providers, and parents. R&R is based on the idea that all children can learn and some may require strategic instruction to do so.

Tier 1: All students receive everyday curriculum in research-based core instruction. Children are assessed with universal screenings around 3 times per year to determine if they are on target.Tier 2: Students receive supplemental instruction in specific areas of need. This frequently takes place in 30 minutes of small group instruction daily. Student progress is monitored every other week.Tier 3: Students receive more intensive interventions. They may receive 60 minutes of very small group or individual instruction daily. Progress monitoring takes place weekly.

RTITiered Instruction

Progress monitoring is used to measure student progress. This helps guide instructional choices by demonstrating which students are benefitting from typical core instruction and which students are struggling. The data is used to guide effective instructional programming for at risk students. Progress monitoring compares the student's actual rate of learning to their expected rate of learning. Benefits of progress monitoring include: a lower rate of referrals to special education due to an increased rate in learning from appropriate instruction, a focus on collaboration between parents and teachers, and proper documentation.

One of the most effective ways to monitor student progress is through CBM. CBM can measure math, spelling, reading, pre-reading, and written expression skills. These assessments can be completed quickly in the classroom and measure specific skills such as letter and number recongnition, sight word identification, computation, word reading fluency, letter sound fluency, and phoneme segmentation.

Cook, R. E., Klein, M. D., & Tessler, A. (2012). Adapting early childhood curricula for children with special needs (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merrill/Prentice Hall.Dexter, D. & Hughes, C. (n.d.). National Center for Learning Disabilities. Retrieved from www.rtinetwork.org/learn/research/progress-monitoring-within-a-rti-modelColeman, M.R., Roth, F.P., & West, T. (2009). Roadmap to Pre-K RTI: Applying Response to Intervention in Preschool Settings. Retrieved from www.rtinetwork.org/images/roadmaptorti.pdf

Research and Response (R&R)

1950

Progress Monitoring

Curriculum Based Measures (CBM)

References