Research Evidence to Support the

Consultation Model in Itinerant Early

Childhood Special Education Services

Shelby County, ALFebruary 23-24, 2009

William McInerney, Ph.D.

Laurie Dinnebeil, Ph.D.

University of Toledo

Judith Herb College of Education

Distributed Instruction vs. Massed Instruction…… The Spacing Effect

What It Is and Why It Should Matter to Itinerant Early Childhood Special Education Professionals

Research and Development Support

Margie Spino, M.A.

Doctoral Student - U. Toledo

Consultation vs. One-to-One and Small Group Instruction in Itinerant ECSE Services

This is the primary consideration in current IECSE practice. Which is the more efficient approach to teaching?

• The adoption of a consultation model as the primary mode of intervention in IECSE services must be based on efficiency of instruction vs. traditional patterns of practice

Rationale for Consultation / Coaching in IECSE Services

If periodic or episodic intervention (usually 60-90 minutes per week in traditional IECSE service delivery) is as efficient as distributed or spaced instruction (or practice), then there is no need to adopt a consultation model as the primary mode of intervention, however……

• If distributed, or spaced instruction or practice, is a more efficient model of learning, then adoption of a consultation approach to IECSE intervention is warranted

Rationale for Consultation / Coaching in IECSE Services

If consultation is to be considered as a preferred alternative to 60-90 minute, one-to-one or teacher-directed small group instruction, then the research base related to efficiency of child learning must be examined

What is the Spacing Effect?

The tendency for spaced (distributed) teaching to yield much better learning than massed teaching sessions

Examples of Spaced Practice or Teaching In 1 day: Study 2 hours, break, study 2 hours,

break Across days: Study on Mon, Tues, Wed

Example of Massed Practice “Cramming”

What is Interstudy Interval (ISI)?

The interval separating different study or practice episodes of the same materials

In most studies are at least 2 study or practice episodes separated by an ISI

Example: Study 2 hr, ½ hr break, Study 2 hr Means ISI = ½ hour

Research with Adults - 1

Donovan & Radosevich, 1999 Reviewed 63 studies involving acquisition of a skill or

information with adults

Results:

Distributed practice was significantly superior to massed practice

Research with Adults - 2

Cepeda, Pashler, Vul, Wixted & Rohrer, 2006 Reviewed 317 studies of verbal memory

tasks with children and adults Results:

Spaced learning of items consistently showed benefits over massed learning

Longer Interstudy Intervals (ISI) benefited learning

Most studies showed children do better with spaced practice

Research with Children - 1

Rea and Modigliani,1985 3rd graders (8.5 years) taught spelling words

and math facts Students ranked as Level 1 (top half of class) or

Level 2 (bottom half of class) Results:

Better on spelling and math tests with spaced practice rather than massed practice

Spaced practice was better for BOTH Level 1 and 2 students (ability level didn’t matter)

Research with Children - 2

Seabrook, Brown & Solity, 2005 Participants ranged from 5-yr olds to undergrads

Experiment 1 Task: Ss saw a list of words (3- and 4-letter concrete

nouns) and then were given a recall test. Schedule: Words were presented for study with

massed practice or spaced/distributed practice. Results: All age groups benefited from increasing

spaced practice

Seabrook, Brown & Solity, 2005

Experiment 2 Task: recognize words previously seen on a list under

conditions that more closely resembled a classroom Schedule:

massed condition = one word was presented 4 times in a row.

clustered (an intermediate condition) = one word was presented 2x in a row, followed by 8 intervening items, then an additional 2 consecutive presentations of word.

distributed condition = 1 word was presented 4 times, with 4 intervening items between each presentation.

Seabrook, Brown & Solity, 2005

Experiment 2 Results distributed condition produced significantly better

results on the test than either the clustered or massed conditions

the clustered condition resulted in performance that was not any better than in the massed condition

these results held for both the children and the adults; there were no significant differences in performance between children and adults

Seabrook, Brown & Solity, 2005

Experiment 3 Task: 34 children (mean age 5 years.6 mos.) taught

phonics over 2 weeks Schedule:

Clustered or Massed = one, 6-minute session per day within a regular classroom setting.

Distributed = three, 2-minute sessions per day within a regular classroom setting

Results: Children in distributed condition had test scores 6 times greater than children in clustered condition

Research with Children - 3

Childers and Tomasello, 2002 How many times (and how many days) does

a 2-yr old need to hear a word to learn it? In 2 experiments, 2 yr olds were taught novel

nouns and verbs over course of one month in sessions lasting 5 - 10 min Noun = “This is a wuggy.” Verb = “It’s dacking. See? It dacks.”

Childers and Tomasello, 2002

Experiment 1 Results:

• Best learning occurred when practice was distributed over 4 days regardless of number of intervening days

• Children learned words better if they heard word 1x/day for 4 days rather than 8x/day for I day

Childers and Tomasello, 2002

Experiment 2 only nouns 4 exposures to a new word in 1 day varied the number of days children heard the new

words 1 to 4 days

Varied number of intervening days (ISI) between when children last heard the new word 1, 2, 5 or 10 intervening days

Childers and Tomasello, 2002

Experiment 2 Results The more days children heard the words, the

better able they were to learn the words Best = 4 days, 3 days Worst = 1 day, 2 days

The number of intervening days (ISI) did not matter and was not helpful. Children did poorly with 1, 2, 5 and 10 intervening

days.

Major Findings

Spacing (distributing) practices benefited children and adults whether tasks were physical or conceptual.

Spacing practice within the day (e.g., three 2-min sessions/day) or across days (e.g., 1x/day for 4 days) benefited children’s learning.

Implications for Education Practice

Current laws state that educational practice needs to be research-based (NCLB; IDEIA, 2004)

How should we schedule instruction for young children? Massed vs Spaced ? Research supports

Spaced How should we schedule the Itinerant SPED

teacher’s time? Direct Instruction or Consultation / Coaching?

Research suggests Consultation/Coaching