Research Evidence to Support the
Consultation Model in Itinerant Early
Childhood Special Education Services
Shelby County, ALFebruary 23-24, 2009William 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 the efficacy 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) presentations to yield much better learning than massed presentations
Examples of Spaced Practice 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 episodes of the same materials
In most studies are at least 2 study 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 Meta-analysis: reviewed 63 studies involving
acquisition of a skill or knowledge with adults Results:
distributed practice was significantly superior to massed practice
differences in size of the effect depending on the type of task “the size of the spacing effect declined sharply as
conceptual difficulty of the task increased from low (e.g. rotary pursuit) to average (e.g. word list recall) to high (e.g. puzzle).” (Rohrer & Taylor, 2006, p. 1210)
Research with Adults - 2
Cepeda, Pashler, Vul, Wixted & Rohrer, 2006 Meta-analysis: reviewed 317 studies using
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 doing 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 when had 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: shown a list of words (3- and 4-letter concrete
nouns) and then given a recall test. Schedule: Words were presented for study with 0
intervening words (massed), and 1, 3 and 8 intervening words (spaced/distributed).
Results: all age groups benefited from increasing lags.
Seabrook, Brown & Solity, 2005
Experiment 2 Task: to recognize words previously shown on a list
under conditions that more closely resembled a classroom
Schedule: massed condition = one word was presented four times
in a row. clustered (an intermediate condition) = one word was
presented twice in a row followed by eight intervening items then a further 2 consecutive presentations.
distributed condition = one word was presented four times with four 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 and Solity, 2005
Experiment 3 Task: 34 children (mean age 5 years.6 mos.) taught
phonics over two weeks Schedule:
Clustered = 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: 6 experimental conditions
Massed 4
Massed 8
Daily 4
Widely Spaced 4
Clumped 4
Clumped 8
4x
8x
= 1 day
1x 1x 1x 1x
1x 1x 1x 1x
2x 2x
2x 4x 2x
Childers and Tomasello, 2002
Experiment 1 Results:
• Best learning occurred when practice distributed over 4 days regardless of number of intervening days
• Best = Daily 4, Widely Spaced 4, Clumped 8• Worst = Massed 8, Massed 4, Clumped 4
• Children learned words better if they heard it 1x/day for 4 days rather than 8x/day for I day
Childers and Tomasello, 2002
Experiment 2 only nouns only 4 exposures to new word in 1 day (not 4
& 8) varied number of days heard the words
1 to 4 days Varied number of intervening days (ISI)
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 vs. Consultation / Coaching ?
Research suggests Consultation/Coaching