The Academic Outcomes for Students with Reading Disabilities - Essay Example

Response to intervention Response to intervention is a method of academic intervention used in the UnitedStates to improve and provide early and systematic assistance to children with learning difficulties. This method seeks to prevent academic failure in the early life of intervention, frequent progress measurement and the increasing intensive research-based instructional interventions for the children who have a continued difficulty in learning (Mark and Brown 34). The general fact is that children who do not show response to effective interventions are more likely to have biologically explained learning disability hence needs a special education process. The introduction of this program was in order for it to replace the ability-achieved discrepancy model that required students to exhibit their ability in academic achievement usually measured through grading and standardized testing. The promoters of RTI claim that this olden method brings more confusion to the individuals with disabilities. However, Response to intervention teaching method provides clear and simplified identities to the students with learning disabilities and friendly to the subject. Response to intervention is a process that aims at shift of educational resources toward the delivery and evaluation of instruction, which are comfortable for the relevant student. It works away from the classification of the disabilities through instructional approach. This method has gained credibility in the recent years as an alternative for students with special education criteria for the case of students with incidences of disabilities (Mark and Brown 39). The model is very eligible to the disabled students. It provides data based decision-making for any student in deed of extra interventions in order to improve his or her performance. The introduction of the RTI was after the change of definition for the disabled. Disability has changed its definition to mean the persons who have one or more psychological complication, which may dominate in the listening, thinking, reading, and writing or in mathematical calculations. These brain disorders may include some conditions like brain injury, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. This definition has changed a little to term disorders as those with basic psychological misunderstanding of language, whether in speech or written and exhibits majorly on the reading and writing difficulties. A child may be termed as disable if he does not achieve the common measure of knowledge following parameters like age and ability level. The child could also have a discrepancy between achievement and intellectual ability in areas like oral expression, listening and understanding and the basic reading skills. Response to intervention model is a know method of problem solving which is a variation of the scientific method but used to study natural phenomenon. The first step in the response to intervention method is clearly defining the difficulties experienced by the student. Clarity and precision are essential for developing hypothesis of knowing how to treat the affected individual. Reliability of assessment for the underlying behaviors is typically low but the perceived behavior has more accuracy. After identification and definition of the problem, the teacher is now in position to change the instructional intervention to cater for the child (Roth and Worthington 412). The response intervention model has a very important component of evaluation whether the child is making progress. This evaluation process is oriented to instructional decisions that help to design the appropriate programs for the student. The effectiveness of the RTI strategies The individuals with disabilities have greatly benefitted from the response to intervention practices since its authorization in United States. The government of the states funded the 12.5 billion US dollars project that supported the early intervention services for infants and toddlers with special education requirement. The program has nurtured children aged between three years of age and twenty-one. Early intervention for students with special academic behavior has perfectly suited the course. The program is generally very helpful to the mentally challenged individuals. Its approach provides a more intensive and early support in the general education setting. The RTI process starts with a researched-based instruction and behavioral support to students in the general education classroom (Mark and Brown 67). When the research ends there follows screening of all the students in order to establish the need for systematic progress monitoring, intervention, and the relevant support. Students who do not responding to the general education system are given special treatment of an increasingly intervention programs thorough a tiered program and they are often supervised and assessed to note their progress and inform on the choice of future interventions. Teachers in the response to intervention system provide instructions to the students at an increasing level of intensity. The teachers also monitor the progress of the child at each intervention stage. They use the results to determine whether the child is suitable for the next level, require more interventions or teachings, or should have reference to special education (Burns and Amanda 157). The RTI relies purely on the tiers of intervention for the struggling students based on interventions and instructions. Teachers may use problem solving to determine their academic progress and behavior wise. The response to intervention intends to hold schools accountable for the improvement of the student’s learning and enhancement of the children’s academic progress (Bradley and Paul 248). The method has proved to be a helpful and a meaningful research based reform strategy in the improvement of academic level. The United States as well as other western countries has focused on response to intervention as the most appropriate method to diagnose specific learning disabilities. The method focuses on schools and districts on the prevention of early academic difficulties. The method uses instructional approach to improve the academic performance of the struggling learners before they identification as academic disabled (Mark and Brown 99). The mode has special means of identifying students with learning disabilities based on the dynamic assessment. The mode bids much direct and logical than the reliance on the discrepancies between IQ sore and the learning achievement scores. The IQ discrepancy criterion had to be abandoned after the realization that it was a wait to fail method of isolation. The method is potentially harmful criterion to students as it relies on delayed intervention until the students achievement is relatively lower as at the time of release (Roth and Worthington 367). The method addresses academic rather than behavioral problem in the interventions targeting at reading and has an integral link to provision of intensive early intervention and in the prevention of future reading failure. The mode aims at school improvement approach and is more than referral services. RIT is a comprehensive service delivery system that demands more changes on how well schools serve all students (Bradley and Paul 278). Response to approach has made a difference in the understanding of the scholarly events for the parents. Nearly fifty percent of students who were receiving special education were not really disabled but needed special education treatment. Therefore, special education is like a cure for poor instruction to students. Most of the students never received any scientific-based instruction in their regular schools but definitely find it in these special schools. In the response to intervention education system, the general educators are the primary interviewers who provide general education to the behavior interventionists (Burns and Amanda 159). The general improvement in the response to intervention schools is due to communication and teamwork in the process. The RTI process reduces the waiting for a student before receiving additional instrumental assistance like the required special education. The system also reduces the overall number of students referred for the special education compared to the former IQ dependency mode. The mode also provides critical information in the instrumental need of any student used to create effective educational and behavioral interventions. There is limitation for the amounts spend on unnecessary testing with no instructional relevance (Roth and Worthington 289). The mode also ensures that students receive appropriate instruction prior to placement of the special education. Generally, response to intervention mode is very effective in the improvement of individuals with learning disabilities. The mode bases on research that suggests that low achievement could be due to inappropriate instruction and not necessary the inability to read and comprehend. The method therefore works against this thesis for the betterment of the mentally disadvantaged. It offers multi-tired framework in the identification of candidates with academic difficulties and eligible for special education. The mode emphasizes on high quality instruction in the general education classes with constant and frequent measurement of the student progress (Burns and Amanda 157). The system has good criteria methods for identifying students with low response to instruction in general education classes and in the tiered interventions. The Response to intervention’s goal is to eliminate instructional deficit rather than the learning disabilities. The program is very credible and very effective in the improvement of education of the mentally challenged persons. Works cited Bradley, Wetzel and Paul, Riccomini. Response to Intervention in Math. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press, 2009. Print. Burns, Mathew and Vanderheyden, Amanda. Essentials of Response to Intervention. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2010. Print. Mark, Steege and Brown, Racheal. Response to Intervention: Principles and Strategies for Effective Practice. New York: Guilford Press, 2010. Print. Roth, Froma and Worthington, Collen. Treatment Resource Manual for Speech Language Pathology. New York: Cengage Learning, 2010. Print. Sailor, Wayne. Making Rti Work: How Smart Schools Are Reforming Education Through Schoolwide Response-to-Intervention. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2009. Print. Read More