Response to Intervention (RTI):in Early Childhood Special

Education

What is RTI?

RTI is a systematic problem-solving process designed to:

• Allow for earlier identification of students’ difficulties

• Provide students with a level of instructional intensity matched to their demonstrated response to intervention

• Provide a data-based method for evaluating the effectiveness of instructional approaches and changing/improving them

• RTI is intended to reduce the need for special education by improving and providing services early

• RTI services are individualized and based on evidence-based strategies

The reauthorization of IDEIA introduced an alternative means of identifying a disability, known as responsiveness to intervention, or RTI:

In determining whether a child has a specific learning disability, a local educational agency may use a process that determines if the child responds to scientific, research-based intervention as a part of the evaluation procedures (IDEIA 2004, Sec. 614.b.6.B).

The RTI models rely on a multi-tiered system of evidence-based interventions, becoming progressively more intense based on student responses to those interventions (Hoover & Patton, 2008).

• Tier 1 – Universal Instruction• Tier 2 – Targeted Instruction• Tier 3 – Intensive Instruction

Gresham (2005) identified four advantages that RTI holds over the discrepancy model:

• (a) early identification of learning problems, • (b) use of a risk model rather than a deficit model,

• (c) reduction of identification biases, and

• (d) focus on student outcomes.