A NEW APPROACH TO IDENTIFYING LEARNING DISABILITIES RTI: Academics

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”? How discrepancy is diagnosed (not standardized)  Deviation from grade  Expectancy formulas (deviation from grade taking into account IQ  Simple Standard-score differences  Standard regression analysis (account for measurement error)

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

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

RTI Models of Diagnosis Dual-Discepancy Model (CBM-DD)  Fuchs and Fuchs Functional Assessment Model  Applied Behavioral Analysis groups

Dual-Discrepancy Model (CBM-DD) Student performs below classroom peers. Student shows a learning rate below that of peers.

Two-Stage Process for CBM-DD Problem Identification  Is student’s achievement sufficiently deficient to justify more testing?  Screen by giving 3-5 CBMs on different days (look at median score)  Compare CBM data for that child w/local norm data OR with another child in the class with average skills. Prob. Certification  Does the child’s problems warrant SPED?  After giving 3-5 CBMs if the child is scoring between 25th-75th percentile, then they are average.

3 Phase Process for LD Eligibility: Phase I Document that the child is receiving adequate classroom instruction. Do this by providing weekly CBM for all students for 6 weeks. Look to see if any child:  A. Has a 1 SD difference b/w his/her scores and rest of class  B. Has a 1 SD difference b/w his/her slope of improvement (growth)

3 Phase Process for LD Eligibility: Phase II Assessment team member and general education teacher design an intervention for the child. CBM data are collected to judge the effectiveness of the intervention. Teacher provides at least 2 interventions if first doesn’t work. If both don’t work, go to Phase III.

3 Phase Process for LD Eligibility: Phase III Design and implementation of extended intervention plan Provide an ~8 week IEP and then meet again. The team may:  Decide to keep IEP on long-term.  Consider a more intensive intervention.  Consider a less intensive intervention.  Ask for more data

Functional Assessment Model Understand academic failure related to child’s environment. Analyze the factors that explain poor performance and intervene accordingly

Functional Assess. Model 5 Reasons Kids Fail “Won’t do it” Lack of practice and feedback Not enough help doing it Has not had to do it before (instructional demands do not promote mastery) It is too hard (poor match b/w child and instruction).

RTI Assignment The set-up:  8 y.o. boy is performing poorly in reading comprehension compared to others in class. The data:  Test based on the first 100 words on the “Fry List”  Baseline scores are: 5, 7, 12. Class average=30; SD =4  An intervention is put in place (direct instruction).  During the intervention, his scores are: 12, 18, 20.  Following the intervention, his scores are: 12, 12, 14. Answer the following:  Did the teacher correctly refer the child?  Did the teacher use the correct tool for assessment?  Did the teacher use a researched based intervention?  Did the child respond to the intervention?  Does the child need special education?