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The Responsiveness-to-Intervention (RtI) process is a multi-tiered approach to providing services and interventions to struggling learners at increasing levels of intensity. This approach involves universal screening, high-quality instruction and interventions matched to student need, frequent progress monitoring, and the use of child response data to make educational decisions. RtI can be applied when making decisions about general, compensatory, and special education, creating a well-integrated and seamless system of instruction and intervention guided by child outcome data.
IDEA 2004 and its final regulations include two new provisions that offer opportunities for implementing RtI. First, IDEA 2004 allows up to 15% of special education funds to be used to provide early intervening services for students who are having academic or behavioral difficulties but are not identified as having a disability (see story above for more information). As a school-wide prevention approach, RtI includes changing instruction for struggling students to help them improve performance and achieve academic progress. To meet the needs of all students, the educational system can use its collective resources to intervene early and provide appropriate interventions and supports to prevent learning and behavioral problems from becoming larger issues.
RtI also provides an alternative to the use of a discrepancy model to assess underachievement. Students who are not achieving when given high quality instruction may have a disability. This approach was authorized in IDEA 2004 through the following provisions: (a) local education agencies (LEAs) may use a student's response to scientifically-based instruction as part of the evaluation process; and (b) when identifying a specific learning disability, LEAs shall not be required to take into consideration whether a child has a severe discrepancy between achievement and intellectual ability.
Speech-language pathologists can play a number of important roles in using RtI to identify children with disabilities and provide needed instruction to students in both general education and special education settings. These roles will require some fundamental changes in the way SLPs engage in assessment and intervention activities. To assist members, ASHA has gathered a number of helpful resources into a professional consultation packet on RtI.
—Kathleen Whitmire
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