Response to Intervention When Behavior is a Barrier to Learning: Using a Response to Intervention Model to Address Challenging

Response to Intervention

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When Behavior is a Barrier to Learning: Using a Response to Intervention Model to Address Challenging Student Conduct

Jim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.orgWNYSPA Fall ConferenceSeptember 28, 2007


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Download PowerPoints and Handouts from this workshop at:

http://www.interventioncentral.org/wnyspa.php



“The process by which public schools identify students as learning disabled often appears to be confusing, unfair, and logically inconsistent. In fact, G. Reid Lyon of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has suggested that the field of learning disabilities is a sociological sponge whose purpose has been and is to clean up the spills of general education.”--Gresham (2001)

Source: Gresham, F. M.. (2001). Responsiveness to intervention: An alternative approach to the identification of learning disabilities. Paper presented at the Learning Disabilities Summit, Washington DC.

Discussion: Read the quote below:

Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why?



Essential Elements of RTI (Fairbanks, Sugai, Guardino, & Lathrop, 2007)

1. A “continuum of evidence-based services available to all students" than range from universal to highly individualized & intensive

2. “Decision points to determine if students are performing significantly below the level of their peers in academic and social behavior domains"

3. “Ongoing monitoring of student progress"4. “Employment of more intensive or different

interventions when students do not improve in response" to lesser interventions

5. “Evaluation for special education services if students do not respond to intervention instruction"

Source: Fairbanks, S., Sugai, G., Guardino, S., & Lathrop, M. (2007). Response to intervention: Examining classroom behavior support in second grade. Exceptional Children, 73, p. 289.





-You're a pretty smart fella.-Not that smart.-How'd you figure it out?-I imagined someone smarter than me. Then I tried to think,"What would he do?”

From the film HEIST (2001)Written by David Mamet

‘RTI Logic’: The Power of Working Smarter…



Behavioral Disabilities [BD] and RTI (Gresham, 1992)

“Resistance to intervention may be defined as the lack of change in target behaviors as a function of intervention. Given that the goal of all interventions is to produce a discrepancy between baseline and post-intervention levels of performance, the failure to produce such a discrepancy can be taken as partial evidence for a BD classification. ”

Source: Gresham, F. M. (1992). Conceptualizing behavior disorders in terms of resistance to intervention. School Psychology Review, 20, p. 25.



Factors Influencing the Decision to Classify as BD (Gresham, 1992)

Four factors strongly influence the likelihood that a student will be classified as Behaviorally Disordered:

• Severity: Frequency and intensity of the problem behavior(s).

• Chronicity: Length of time that the problem behavior(s) have been displayed.

• Generalization: Degree to which the student displays the problem behavior(s) across settings or situations.

• Tolerance: Degree to which the student’s problem behavior(s) are accepted in that student’s current social setting.

Source: Gresham, F. M. (1992). Conceptualizing behavior disorders in terms of resistance to intervention. School Psychology Review, 20, 23-37.



Applying ‘RTI Logic’ to Social Behavior Support (Fairbanks, Sugai, Guardino, & Lathrop, 2007)

Tier I (‘Universal System’) for behavioral support:

• Is implemented schoolwide for all students• Requires that the school "identify and explicitly teach

schoolwide expectations• Includes a system to "acknowledge expectation-

compliant behavior"• Defines inappropriate behaviors and applies

consequences for those behaviors with consistency• Reviews group progress toward schoolwide goals

(data collection and feedback)

Source: Fairbanks, S., Sugai, G., Guardino, S., & Lathrop, M. (2007). Response to intervention: Examining classroom behavior support in second grade. Exceptional Children, 73, p. 289.



What does RTI look like when applied to an individual student?

A widely accepted method for determining whether a student has a Learning Disability under RTI is the ‘dual discrepancy model’ (Fuchs, 2003). – Discrepancy 1: The student is found to be performing

academically at a level significantly below that of his or her typical peers (discrepancy in initial skills or performance).

– Discrepancy 2: Despite the implementation of one or more well-designed, well-implemented interventions tailored specifically for the student, he or she fails to ‘close the gap’ with classmates (discrepancy in rate of learning relative to peers).



Target Student

Discrepancy 1: Skill Gap (Current Performance Level)

Avg Classroom Academic Performance Level

‘Dual-Discrepancy’: RTI Model of Learning Disability (Fuchs 2003)

Discrepancy 2:Gap in Rate of Learning (‘Slope of Improvement’)



Tier ITier I

Tier IITier II

Tier IIITier III

How can a school restructure to support RTI? The school can organize its intervention efforts into 3 levels, or Tiers, that represent a continuum of increasing intensity of support. (Kovaleski, 2003; Vaughn, 2003). Tier I is the lowest level of intervention and Tier III is the most intensive intervention level.

Universal intervention: Available to all studentsExample: Additional classroom literacy instruction

Targeted Intervention: Students who need additional support than peers are given individual intervention plans. Example: Supplemental peer tutoring in reading to increase reading fluency

Intensive Intervention: Students whose intervention needs are greater than general education can meet may be referred for more intensive services.Example: Special Education



Tier I: Universal100%

Tier II: Individualized10-15%

Tier III: Intensive5-10%

Levels of Intervention: Tier I, II, & III



Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports: Three-Tiered Approach

Source: www.pbis.org



‘Big Ideas’ in Student Behavior Management



Big Ideas: Similar Behaviors May Stem from Very Different ‘Root’ Causes

(Kratochwill, Elliott, & Carrington Rotto, 1990)

• Behavior is not random but follows purposeful patterns.

Students who present with the same apparent ‘surface’ behaviors may have very different ‘drivers’ (underlying reasons) that explain why those behaviors occur.

A student’s problem behaviors must be carefully identified and analyzed to determine the drivers that support them.

Source: Kratochwill, T. R., Elliott, S. N., & Carrington Rotto, P. (1990). Best practices in behavioral consultation. In A. Thomas and J. Grimes (Eds.). Best practices in school psychology-II (pp. 147=169). Silver Spring, MD: National Association of School Psychologists..



Common ‘Root Causes’ or ‘Drivers’ for Behaviors Include…

• Social attention (adult or peer)• Escape or avoidance• Access to tangibles or rewards or privileges

(‘pay-offs’)• [Inattention or impulsivity]



“Showed disrespect towards me when she yelled inappropriately regarding an instruction sheet. I then asked her to leave the room. She also showed disrespect when I called her twice earlier in the class to see her report card grade.”

Teacher Referral Example…



Big Ideas: Student Social & Academic Behaviors Are Strongly Influenced by the Instructional Setting

(Lentz & Shapiro, 1986)

• Students with learning problems do not exist in isolation. Rather, their instructional environment plays an enormously important role in these students’ eventual success or failure

Source: Lentz, F. E. & Shapiro, E. S. (1986). Functional assessment of the academic environment. School Psychology Review, 15, 346-57.



“1st ) During the beginning of English class, Z. continued to drink her soda. I gave her a warning and she answered me back. 2nd) She began to talk to other students behind her during quiet reading. When I told her to stop talking, she began to get mouthy and nasty to me. She will do anything to get sent out of the room or to distract from my teaching.”




Big Ideas: Be Proactive in Behavior Management (Martens & Meller, 1990)

• Teachers who intervene before a student misbehaves or when the misbehavior has not yet escalated have a greater likelihood of keeping the student on task and engaged in learning.

Source: Martens, B.K., & Meller, P.J. (1990). The application of behavioral principles to educational settings. In T.B. Gutkin & C.R.Reynolds (Eds.), The handbook of school psychology (2nd ed.) (pp. 612-634). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

ABC Timeline

A CB



“C. and T. were horsing around in the classroom. In the process, they knocked down an overhead projector and crushed it.”




• Individuals are always performing SOME type of behavior: watching the instructor, sleeping, talking to a neighbor, completing a worksheet (‘behavior stream’).

• When students are fully engaged in academic behaviors, they are less likely to get off-task and display problem behaviors.

• Academic tasks that are clearly understood, elicit student interest, provide a high rate of student success, and include teacher encouragement and feedback are most likely to effectively ‘capture’ the student’s ‘behavior stream’.

Big Ideas: Behavior is a Continuous ‘Stream’ (Schoenfeld & Farmer, 1970)

Source: Schoenfeld, W. N., & Farmer, J. (1970). Reinforcement schedules and the ‘‘behavior stream.’’ In W. N. Schoenfeld (Ed.), The theory of reinforcement schedules (pp. 215–245). New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

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Response to Intervention When Behavior is a Barrier to Learning: Using a Response to Intervention Model to Address Challenging