RtI for students with significant disabilities

RtI for Students with Moderate
to Severe Disabilities:
Effective Literacy Instruction
Stefanie Bauer, S.S.P.
Carrie F. De La Cruz, Ph.D.
IAASE
January 20th, 2011

• Background
• Leg 1: Instruction
• Leg 2: Assessment
• Leg 3: Teaming
• Conclusion

Bauer & De La Cruz, IAASE 2011

The practice of providing high-quality
instruction/intervention matched to
student needs and using learning rate
over time and level of performance to
make important educational decisions.

Batsche, G. M., Elliott, J., Graden, J., Grimes, J., Kovaleski, J. F., Prasse,
D.,Reschly, D, Shrag, J.. & Tilly, W.D. (2005). Response to Intervention:
Policy considerations and implementation. Alexandria, VA: National
Association of State Directors of Special Education, Inc.

In Other Words, RtI is…
A data-based decision making
process designed to improve
educational and behavioral
outcomes for ALL
students.


• Not just about books,
about communication
• Literacy is how we take
in information and
how we give
information
• Literacy is an
important life skill

Learning to read and write:
• Enhances cognitive development
• Facilitates fuller participation at school
• Increases employment opportunities
• Facilitates social relationships
• Provides a meaningful and enjoyable leisure
pursuit.
• Provides a means to communicate more
effectively
• Has a positive impact on self esteem

The 3 “Legs” of RtI:

Assessment

Instruction Teaming

Leg 1: Instruction
1. Best Practices
2. Special
Considerations
3. What We’re Doing
4. Lessons Learned

• Think about your district / school / student
• What are you doing for Leg 1: Instruction?


Best Practices in Reading
Instruction

• National Reading Panel – 5 Big Ideas
• Direct and explicit instruction
• Core & supplemental research-based
programs
• 90 min a day


3 Tiers of Reading Support

3
Tier Intensive, Individual Interventions
• Individual Students 5%
• More than 30 min./day of extra reading support
• Progress Monitoring (1/week)
15%
2
Tier Targeted Group Interventions
• Some students (at-risk)
• Small group interventions plus Core Curriculum
• Progress Monitoring (1/week)

1
Tier Core Instructional Interventions
• All students 80%
• Core Curriculum
• Universal Screening (3/year)


Special Considerations for
Students with Significant
Disabilities
1. Many students at the earliest levels of literacy
development
2. Little research available about effective reading instruction
for this population
3. Core program may only meet the needs of a few students
in the classroom
4. Students have very unique and challenging learning
profiles
5. Given good instruction, students with significant
disabilities can learn to read beyond sight words

Literacy Begins at Birth:
Building the Foundation

• Language and
vocabulary
development

• Shared book
experiences


Whole to Part to Whole
• Develop interest in books and
stories
• Associates pictures with words
• Text carries the meaning
•Speech to text boundaries
•Sound manipulation
skills

• Alphabet
•Letter / sound
correspondence
• Decoding individual words
• Reading connected text

De La Cruz & Bauer, NASP 2010

Book / Print
Awareness

Letter
Writing
Identification

Literacy
Vocabulary / Phonological
Comprehension Awareness

Sight Words /
Phonics
Pictures


Four Developmental Stages

Fluent Literacy Learner

Emergent Literacy Learner

Literacy Novice

Literacy Beginner


Literacy Development Profile
Beginner Novice Early to Upper Upper
Emergent Emergent to
Fluent
Concepts of Print
X
Letter Identification
X
Phonological Awareness
X
Phonics
X
Spelling and Writing
X
Symbol / Word Reading
X
Vocabulary and
Comprehension X

What We’re Doing
Literacy Instruction
for Students with
Moderate to Severe
Disabilities

Instruction Using
Combination of DIY
DIY – Do It Yourself Packaged
and Packaged
Literacy Instruction Comprehensive
Program
Program


http://www.mayer-johnson.com/products/all-curriculum/


Instructional Planning Form (IPF)
Instructional Strategies Materials Arrange- Time Assessment
ments Procedures
Skill Teaching Strategy
• Explicit instruction in • A to Z Letter flashcards • 1:1 • Morning • Literacy
Letter letter names (80% known, 20% work time Benchmark
ID unknown) – note order to Assessment –
be taught Letter ID
•Reading materials in Fluency
• Identification of • Group •Through-
letters in context classroom out day
• Reading A to Z Alphabet
Books
•Environmental Print
• Group •Afternoon
•Alphabet Bingo, Alphabet reading
• Practice Games Spin Game, Alphabet Egg group
Puzzles
•Explicit instruction in • “Phonological Awareness • 1:1 • Morning • Progress in
Phono- rhyming and blending Training for Reading” work time PA
logical (compound word, curriculum
Aware- onset-rime, syllable) •Rhyming word sorts,
ness initial sound word sorts, •Group •Afternoon
•Practice Games Guess Who, Rhyming reading
Bingo, etc. group

Lessons Learned:
• Students need BOTH direct and explicit
instruction in individual skills AND literacy
experiences and a literacy rich environment.
• Remember the written expression aspect of
literacy.
• Reading comprehension is strongly tied
to language and vocabulary
development.

• Are you thinking about doing something
different for Leg 1: Instruction?


Leg 2: Assessment
1. Best Practices
2. Special
Considerations
4. Lessons Learned

• What are you doing for Leg 2: Assessment?


Best Practices: Assessment for
Different Purposes
Screening / To identify who has needs. To identify how students
Benchmark compare to one another. To measure if groups of
students are making progress over time. Occurs two
or more times a year for all students.

Diagnostic / Skill To determine student skill strengths and weaknesses
Analysis to support instructional planning. This assessment
done as needed.
Progress To determine whether instruction is having an impact
Monitoring on student progress on specific skills. Progress
monitoring occurs monthly or weekly.

Outcome / To determine if students are meeting expected
Accountability standards.

Best Practices: Characteristics of
Progress Monitoring Tools
• Reliable
• Valid
• Standardized
• Able to be given repeatedly over time
• Sensitive to growth over time
• Simple and time efficient


Special Considerations for
Students with Significant
Disabilities
• Students need multiple ways of demonstrating
their knowledge
• Accuracy more reflective of student ability
than fluency – but less sensitive to small
amounts of growth.
• Difficult to stick to standardization
• Students may have gaps in skills
(e.g., comprehension)

What We’re Doing
Screening / • Documenting levels of literacy attainment
Benchmark annually on NSSED Literacy Tracking Form
Diagnostic / Skill • Collecting a variety of data to determine student
Analysis skill strengths and weaknesses as needed.
• Resources: Assessments built into curricula, CBM
and CBE tools, other classroom materials
Progress • If possible, use weekly / monthly CBM fluency
Monitoring measures
• If necessary, use CBM tools as accuracy measures
• Resources: AIMSweb, IGDE’s, RIPM, Intervention
Central
Outcome / • NSSED Literacy Tracking Form
Accountability • IEP Outcomes Study
• IAA

Research Institute on Progress Monitoring
(RIPM) (www.progressmonitoring.org)
– RIPM Research → Significant Cognitive Disabilities
– Tools available to assess several skill areas


Intervention Central
www.interventioncentral.com
- CBM Warehouse → Probe Generators
- Can select settings such as upper/lower/both, font,
font size, number to appear on page, etc.


• AIMSweb (www.aimsweb.com)
– Many tools available
• Preschool Individual Growth and
Development Indicators (IGDE’s)
(www.ggg.umn.edu)
– Preschool level assessments
• Reading Inventories (e.g., Jerry Johns,
Eckwall-Shanker)

“Touch the picture that says /m/ /a/ /p/”

Lessons Learned
• Traditional universal screening /
benchmarking (all students 3x a year on same
measure) does not work.
• Assessment to drive instruction must be done,
but may require significant modification
• Progress can be very slow
• Your assessment toolkit must be deep, varied,
and flexible
• Ongoing assessments become our re-
evaluation information

different for Leg 2: Assessment?


Leg 3: Teaming
1. Best Practices
2. Special
Considerations
4. Lessons Learned

• What are you doing for Leg 3: Teaming?


1. A District-Level RTI Team to
1. District
Leadership Team
Make Things Happen for the
District

2. School
2. A School Improvement Team
Improvement Team to Make Things Happen for the
School
3. Grade Level
Team with Targeted 3. A Grade-level Team with
Supports
Support to Make Things
Happen for Groups of
Students
4. Individual
Problem Solving &
Special Ed Decision 4. A Problem-Solving Team to
Making Team
Make Things Happen for
Individual Students


Best Practices:
Problem Solving Method
Problem Identification
Is there a problem? What is it?

Plan Problem Analysis
Evaluation Why is it happening?
Did our plan work?

Plan Development
What shall we do about it?

Special Considerations
• Students with cognitive disabilities require
more intensive teaming and instructional
planning efforts
• Plan for their instructional needs within the
wider school instruction and teaming efforts
to the greatest extent possible


ELS School
Improvement Team
• Team with representation across all disciplines
meets together once per month to discuss
program-wide goals and issues
• The program’s RtI-related goals are
developed and evaluated by this 1. District Leadership
Team

team
2. School
Improvement Team


ELS Individual
Problem Solving Teams
• A team consisting of an
Administrator, Teacher, School
Psychologist, SLP, OT, PT, and
Program Nurse meet bi-monthly
to discuss classroom and student-
specific goals and issues
• Lots of “informal” teaming 1. District Leadership
Team

amongst team members outside 2. School
Improvement Team

of group meeting times 3. Grade Level Team
with Targeted
Supports

4. Individual Problem
Solving & Special Ed
Decision Making
Team


Lessons Learned…
• Some consistency in teaming norms, process,
and procedures is necessary to make sure that
literacy instruction is a focus of the team’s
time and energy
• Support is needed in terms of
materials, training, and
curriculum coaching
is necessary for implementing
reading instruction


Lessons Learned…
• Schedule separate team meetings to review
and plan for literacy instruction. Regular team
meeting time does not typically allow for in
depth problem solving on a student’ literacy
progress.
• Teachers want to be held
accountable for providing
effective literacy instruction
• Enlist parent support for carryover

different for Leg 3: Teaming?


Beginning of the School Year –
August / September
• Identify student current skill level using existing resources
and additional data when necessary.
• Develop comprehensive instructional plan
• Identify progress monitoring strategy (what, when, who).
Relate to IEP goals when appropriate.
• Implement instructional plans
• Obtain / Create materials
• Put instructional time in schedule
• Identify training needs
• Periodically review progress on implementation
• Implement progress monitoring plan
• Obtain / organize materials
• Train Staff when necessary
• Create graph / chart for data review

Middle of the School Year –
October – March
• Regularly update progress monitoring data on chart /
graph
• Periodically review data to determine whether students
are making adequate progress. Make instructional
changes when appropriate. Note changes on
instructional plan.
• Periodically check to ensure instructional plans are
being carried through with integrity. Are we doing
what we said we would do?


End of the School Year –
April – June
• Conduct Re-Evaluations
• Review existing data
• Update of student skill level / skill analysis
• Describe current instruction plan
• Identify direction of future instruction
• Identify opportunities for generalization
• Write New Goals
• Identify current level of performance across areas
• Identify area for new goal
• Work with team to write goal
• Update Literacy Tracking Form
• Identify current skill development level
• Describe current instructional plan
• Include current progress monitoring data


Contact
Information
Stefanie Bauer
sbauer@nssed.org

Carrie De La Cruz
cdelacruz@nssed.org

RtI for students with significant disabilities

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