PROVIDING INCLUSIVE CLASSROOM INTERVENTIONS AND DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION TO MEET THE NEEDS OF STRUGGLING LEARNERS.

Alejandro Brice, Ph.D., CCC-SLP

What is Response to Intervention/Instruction?

RT/I is a series of graduated classroom intervnt

RtI/I refers to a problem solving method to assessment (Mills, 2005).

Learning difficulties are documented by a slow rate of learning over time when given specific strategic instruction.

Mills (2005) stated that RtI/I is “A graduated series of increasingly intense interventions guided by data-based decision making.”

• It analyzes a student’s learning over time.

• Define the communication and/or learning difficulties.

• Develop an assessment strategy. Implement the strategy.

• Evaluate outcomes.

• Strengths: Focusing on the student’s learning compared to others in his/her classroom environment using Curriculum Based Assessment.

Weaknesses:

•Those used to psychometric tests must adapt.

•Requires extensive collaboration and “letting

•go” of the psychometric model of assessment.

Specifically

What is Response to Intervention/Instruction (RtI/I)?RTI/I is also an instructional model, documenting student progress.A multi-tiered approach for struggling learners.A problem-solving approach to serving students who struggle.An instructional consultation-team model for working with teachers who serve students who struggle.

RTI/I depends on good instruction and good data collection.

RtI/I consists of:

Screening

Tiers/levels of instruction

Progress monitoring

Indicators of successful teaching and learning

IDEA states that LEAs must ensure that assessments

“are provided and administered in the language and form most likely to yield accurate information on what the child knows and can do academically, developmentally, and functionally….”

RTI/I for language impaired and/or bilingual students must address their specific language needs.

For teachers RtI/I is keeping the whole class on-track

All teachers face teaching/learning obstacles

And, no student should get left behind!

Adapted from: Beth Doll, University of Colorado

Is it the student (Fish) or is it the teaching (the Water)?

RTI/I needs to be looked at from both the student and

teacher perspectives.

80% of allable

learners

Possible tiers

Primary Level (School-wide): The focus is on the core curriculum with accommodations and modifications made by general education classroom teachers.

Secondary Intervention/Instruction: Provide evidence based instruction, small group instruction to students. Typically provided by a specialist (e.g., ESOL teacher, special education teacher).

Tertiary Level of Intensive Intervention/Instruction: These students need the most intensive intervention. Instruction is tailored to remedial instruction for individual needs (e.g., longer and more frequent sessions). This level is not synonymous with special education.

15%

5%

Adapted from: Dwyer, K. & Osher, D. (2000) Safeguarding Our Children: An Action Guide. Washington DC: U.S. Departments of Education and Justice, American Institutes for Research AND Mellard, D. (2008). What is RTI? Lawrence, KS: National Technical Assistance Center on Response to Intervention

Evaluate Effects

Evaluate Effects

Evaluate Effects

In essence, RtI/IO consists of multiple levels or tiers of interventions.

These tiers for speech-language and/or English learners (EL) students may consist of (Ehren, 2009):

1. Enhanced content instruction

2. Embedded strategy instruction

3. Intensive Strategy Instruction

4. Intensive Basic Skill Instruction

5. Intensive Intervention in Language Skills

1. Enhanced classroom instruction is the first intervention.

Be there in the general education classroom.

Determine what language and cognitive issues may be preventing students from learning.

Determine what accommodations are needed for students with language issues.

Enhanced content instruction (cont.)

Enhanced instruction may include one-on-one time and teacher prompting/scaffolding.

Identify those students who may need additional assistance.

Assist the teacher in her/his use of language and content instruction.

For example, during teacher read aloud instruction- Teacher 1- “O.kay, everybody can read along while I read. Teacher 2- “You can do it Mario. You can read along…”

2. Embedded Strategy Instruction

Use of strategy instruction follows in tier two.

Are the identified students able to successfully use the strategies?

Determine what is thwarting the student's use of the strategies?

Remember that just exposure to English is NOT enough for EL students to learn (Harper & de Jong, 2004; Wong-Filmore, 1992).

Conditions for English learning include:

1. Learning language in a social context in which L2 and L1 are valued equally and are used for a wide variety of purposes.

2. Bilingualism is promoted at both home and school. It is viewed as socially advantageous in the community.

3. A well developed L1 before learning English.

4. Opportunities for oral and written L1 and L2.

5. Ample opportunities to interact with native speakers of L2.

6. English speakers interact and know the language well enough to provide access to it, support learning it and show willingness.

7. Learners receive appropriate instruction in the language and provide ample corrective feedback from teachers as the learners use English (Wong-Fillmore, 1992).

Good teaching must be enhanced with providing corrective feedback to speech-language and/or EL students.

Conditions under English is likely to become a subtractive process (Wong-Fillmore, 1992):

1. Great pressure to learn English. The learner senses that English is the language that is useful in the social worlds of school and beyond.

2. Family language (L1) has no function or place in the social world of the school or community.

3. Age of the child. The younger the learner, the greater the danger of English displacing the family language.

Language loss can occur if too much pressure is exerted to learn only English.

Language interaction in classrooms are typically short and do not provide language learning opportunities (Harper & de Jong, 2004). Cooperative activities among students also may not teach the language skills of asking questions, agreeing/disagreeing, commenting, asking for help (Harper & de Jong, 2004). SLPs and teachers must teach these pragmatic language skills.

Pragmatic skills of agreeing, disagreeing, commenting, askingmust be modeled and taught.

In addition, SLPs/teachers must not view bilingual language development as a universal process for all ELs (Harper & de Jong, 2004). In fact, a bilingual student is NOT two monolinguals, i.e., bilingual language development is unique and different from monolingual language development (Grosjean, 1989).

Bilingual learners are unique and should NOT becompared to monolingual learners.

The bilingual speaker is not two monolinguals in one person Grosjean, 1989); therefore: Language skills should be appraised in terms of bilingual and NOT monolingual standards.

Bilingualism is the norm worldwide. Contact between a bilingual speaker’s two languages is common and frequent (e.g., code switching and code mixing). Grosjean stated that, “The coexistence and constant interaction of the two languages in the bilingual has produced a different but complete linguistic entity” (p. 6).

The bilingual develops competencies in both their languages to the extent that is required by his/her environment.

Bilingualism is a complex set of interacting cognitive and language skills.

Errors are normal. Errors do not constitute a disorder or disability.Common writing errors for ELs include problems with(a) verb tenses; (b) plural and possessive noun forms; (c) subject/verb agreement; (d) use of articles (Harper & de Jong 2004).

Factors contributing to English acquisition.

Factors affecting an ELs acquisition of English and learning in the classroom include:

(a) years of exposure to English;

(b) cognitive and academic development in L1;

(c) the school program, i.e., greater amount of L1 instruction

with balanced L2 support -> higher English academic

achievement (Thomas & Collier, 1997); and

(d) the parent’s education level (Umek, Kranjc, Fekonja, & Bajc, 2006).

However, preschool education can compensate for a child’s development if the parents have a low education level (Umek, Kranjc, Fekonja, & Bajc (2008). Proper early intervention and teaching can compensate for the parents’ low education level.

Tier 3 consists of intensive strategy instruction by a specialist.

Intensive strategy instruction.Provide learning strategy instruction for 6, 9, or 12 weeks.Provide strategy instruction for small group of students. Some strategies suggested by Chamot and O’Malley (1996) include: (a) advance organization; (b) imagery; (c) selective attention; (d) self-management; (e) monitoring comprehension & production; (f) making inferences; (g) self-assessment; (h) grouping; (i) note-taking; (j) summarizing.

Strategies suggested by Brice, Miller, and Brice (2006)include: (a) Building lessons on students’ background knowledge; (b) Providing written copies of instructions;(c) Asking prediction questions; (d) Teaching self-study skills; (e) Encouraging students to ask questions;(f) Modeling correct language forms; (g) Increasing student-teacher interactions; (h) using grammar drills AND direct instruction; Having students practice

Planning lessons should not occur in isolation.

(j) Allowing code switching and code mixing to occur; (k) Using longer sentences with students with higher language skills; (l) Expanding vocabulary use.

In addition, in planning and communicating with other teachers: (a) Plan lessons beyond workbooks; (b) Plan lessons jointly with other teachers; (d) Plan lessons that allow for students to be successful; (e) Routinely communicate with students; and (f) Routinely communicate with other teachers.

Coordinating instruction with SLP.

Provide “zoom in” lessons for students who need more intensive work. Zoom in lessons are micro-lessons focusing on a specific aspect.

More intensive work on classroom lessons; specialized, direct, intensive instruction in differentiated instruction.

Work with students who have language difficulties in and outside the classroom.

Determine what accommodations are needed for students with language issues. Observe the student (see Oral Language Grid by Collier, 2004).

RtI/I will involve running records for progress monitoring; e.g., use of daily/weekly probes. Frequent, consistent data of running records or probes must be collected.

Steps to Success: RTI/I requires collaboration with other professionals.

Educate others why language is important for ELLs (listening, speaking, reading, writing).

Observe one classroom;

Work with small groups;

Co-teach lessons;

Talk with teachers about who may be at-risk and why they may be at-risk.

Educate. Volunteer your knowledge. Integrate your language expertise into the classroom curriculum.

Have regular contact with other teachers and school administration,

Commit. Make it happen. Your ELL students depend upon it for classroom instruction and learning.

Educate, volunteer, contact, commit.

Identifying children at-risk for impairment and differentiating language differences versus disorders.

Standardized Tests (Norm-referenced and Criterion referenced)Adaptation of testsReliable and validCultural differences and expectationsAlternative methodsAssessment points to ponderDifferential diagnosisDouble scoringDifference vs. disorderRubrics and performance based assessmentDelays vs. differences

Identifying children at-risk for impairment and differentiating language differences versus disorders.

Two types of standardized tests

Norm-Referenced Tests, and

Criterion-Referenced Tests or Assessments

Norm-Referenced TestsComparing a child’s score to a set of norms that the test developer has gathered.

Individual’s score is based on comparison of her/his score to scores of a norm group of similar students. Children who are most like the norm group will perform better.

Children from minority and lower socioeconomic groups are at disadvantage because most tests do not include them as a norm or in sufficient numbers.

Criterion-Referenced Tests Assessments (CRTs)

Comparing to a pre-determined criterion, for example, performance on sight word assessment.

Measure an individual’s performance according to specific criterion. Scores are not compared to the performance of other test takers. They are developed as diagnostic tools to determine which particular skills a student has (+) or has not (-) mastered.

Examples of Criterion Referenced Tests

Chapter-end science test Ability to run a 4- minute mile.Teacher-made rubrics.Timed math facts testTeacher-made checklist of student competenciesRecord of amount of in-class assignments completedDriver’s license test (do I know or not know the answers; can I drive appropriately ?).

Advantages of CRTs for Speech and Language Students:

CRTs can connect to curriculum based assessment (i.e., teacher made tests covering assignments).

Natural linkage to curriculum and instruction. Useful in depicting student growth over time. Lends itself to problem identification and immediate remedial action

Major criticisms of NRTs:

Norm referenced tests are “medical” or “clinical” in that the test tends to identify weaknesses instead of strengths.

Lack of linguistic and cultural sensitivity to minorities. Lack of relevance to curriculum.

Adaptations of TestsWays in that tests can be modified. Which of these are approved for the Florida Standards test?

Deletion/modification of culturally inappropriate items.Modification of scoringUse of cuesLonger response time*

Alternate location* TranslationAlteration to test length

Reliable and Valid (consistent and correctly measuring)

Tests and assessments need to be both consistent (reliable) and accurate (valid).

Reliable (consistent) and Invalid (incorrectly measuring)

Tests can consistently measure incorrectly.

Unreliable and Valid

Tests can also measure correctly, but be inconsistent.

Reliability and Validity

Valid: Measuring what it’s supposed to Reliable: It is consistent in measuring

NRT’s (administered in English) are likely to be invalid or unreliable for English learner students

If the student has difficulty with language and their skills are being measured through language, then the performance test (e.g., Florida Standards test) results will likely be inconsistent and inaccurate.

A word problem:

Jean et André sont frères. Jean est l’aîné. Les deux vont au lycée qui se trouve à moins de cinq kilomètres de leur maison à Paris. Bien qu’il y ait une différence d’âge de trois ans entre les deux frères, leurs niveaux scolaires ne sont séparées que par deux années. André est en sixième. En quelle classe est Jean?

A word problem: Now you have an accommodation, the translated version; again, what class is Jean in?

Jean and Andre are brothers. Jean is older. The two go to a school which is found less than five kilometers from their home in Paris. Although there is a difference in age of three years between the two brothers, their grade levels are only two years apart. Andre is in sixth. What grade is Jean in?

Correct answer:

Did you say 8th grade?

Jean is in grade 4.

Educational Systems: US vs. France. A cultural difference has caused your answer to be incorrect.

•US: Grade Level•6…………..•7…………..•8…………..•9…………..•10…………•11………..•12………..

•France: Grade Level•6….•5….•4….•3….•2….•1….•Terminal….

Alternative methods of assessment for SLP and EL students:

Observation and Interviews

Language Samples and narrative analysis

Dynamic Assessment

Venn Diagrams

Concept Definition

MapsWord/ concept Maps

Portfolios

Venn Diagrams“Over-lapping” circles used to categorize.

List differences in outer circles.

List similarities in inner circle.

Similarities lie in the inner circle and differences in the outer circles.

Venn Diagrams: Activity

How are Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiencies (CALP) the same, different?

Review your BICS and CALP knowledge and understanding.

Display your understanding by completing a Venn Diagram.

Concept Definition Map

Choose a concept

Explain what it is

Explain what it is like (Characteristics)

Give some examples of it

See next slide

Fruits(Concept)Fruits(Concept)

What is it?(Definition- something

to eat)

What is it?(Definition- something

to eat)

Examples

What is it like?Characteristics

Have seeds?Have seeds?

Come from a flower?

Come from a flower?

Dry or fleshy?Dry or fleshy?

Some are sweet

Some are sweet

Assessment

POINTS TO PONDER

Assessment: POINTS TO PONDER

Answer the following questions about a test you have given.

Were there any items that were originally missed by the majority of your students? How can a test be made better?Review these questions for:Cultural biasWordiness, Type of language useDifficult grammatical structuresConfusing test formatValidity

Differential Diagnosis Differential Diagnosis

Modifying Tests, Scoring, Characteristics of Disorders, Language Difference vs. Disorder

Modifying the task. 1. Develop several more practice items for each task. 2. Demonstrate the nature of the response desired (e.g., pointing, repeating words, drawing, rapid versus slow, etc.) and give examples of responses that would give maximum vs. minimal credit. 3. Instructions may have to be reworded.

4. Students should be given ample time to respond (to allow for cultural differences in responding and time to process tasks especially if they are performed in English).

5. Continue testing beyond the ceiling.

6. Repeat the stimuli more than what is specified in the test manual.

7. Repeat the item several times or repeat the test (multi-trial). Retest no later than two weeks after first administration.

Scoring.1. Double score items for English and the native language. Add up all correct responses in English and the native language (omitting items that occur twice in L1 and L2). Look at English score, native language score and combined score (i.e., double scores).

Example of Double Scoring

2. Analyze performance on individual test items.3. Do not report test scores, i.e., standardized scores, if the test is not normed on your child/student.

Why direct translation of tests do not work.1. Languages vary in use of tense markers, gender markers, time markers, honorifics (polite usages of language), etc. 2. Languages vary in the amount of information presented via tonal changes and intonation patterns.

How to determine a language difference vs. a disorderLanguage disorders.1. It is not possible for a child to have a language disorder only in one language (Brice, 2002).2. The bilingual child needs to be compared, performance wise, to other children who come from a similar cultural, linguistic, and economic background.

a. Home, school, community data need to be examined.3. It should not be assumed that all bilingual children have the same language experiences. Students need language that is comprehensible.

4. Children from bilingual backgrounds often have had fewer opportunities to hear and use English. It is normal for these second language users to initially demonstrate a lower level of English proficiency.

a. Even if the child is exposed to a monolingual or predominately English background, the English usage may not be the same as that other children have been exposed to.

5. Grammatical errors in the second language that are similar to first language users are to be expected and must not be viewed as evidence as a disorder (Dulay & Burt, 1974).

a. Some interference of the first language (mapping of L1 on to L2) on the second language is normal. However, most errors in L2 are developmental.

6. Language loss is a normal phenomena when opportunities to hear and use the first language are withdrawn and minimized. When one language is favored, the favored language usually becomes dominant.

a. EL children who experience language loss in the L1 may display scores that are similar to those of bilingual children with true language disorders.

7. Shifting from one language (code-switching) to another within an utterance or across utterances is not indicative of a language problem. It is a normal behavior of proficient bilinguals. More examples follow:

Development of Rubrics and Performance Based Assessment

Developing a performance based assessment rubric (Perlman 2003).

1. Use an existing rubric2. Rewrite an existing rubric3. Develop a new rubric

Guidelines for developing a new rubric:1. Define the dimensions to be assessed2. Examine student work for aspects of the dimensions to be assessed3. Cluster dimensions into a few categories4. Write a definition for each category5. Develop a continuum or scoring scale6. Pilot test the rubric with a few students7. Revise the rubric8. Share the rubric

Example Rubric

1. Define dimensions: Reading in Kindergarten or 1st grade children

2. Examples of student work include phonemic awareness and phonics skills

3. Cluster dimensions into few categories. (a) identification of sounds; (b) phonics; (c ) rhyming; (d) segmenting; (e) blending.

4. Definition for each category: (a) distinguishing between beginning, middle and ending sounds in single syllable words; (b) recognizing that vowels and consonants can be represented by different letters; rhyming of words; (c ) adding or deleting sounds to change words; (e) blending 2-4 phonemes into recognizable words.

5. Develop a scoring scale: Criterion referenced (skill is present or absent)

6.Pilot test the rubric (Will use the probe developed by the Chicago Schools Office of Accountability Kindergarten-Assessment Tools for Phonemic Awareness) http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED460132

Examples:

Delays versus Differences.

Know the characteristics of the other language, e.g., Spanish.See references for African American English and Asian Languages (ASHA, 2005; Bland-Stewart, 2005; Champion, McCabe-Smith, Hyter, & Bland-Stewart, 2003; Cheng, 1991; Fung & Roseberry-McKibbin, 1999; Roseberry-McKibbin, 2002; Roseberry-McKibbin, 2001; Roseberry-McKibbin, 1999; Tucker, 1999; Thompson, 2003).