7 Must-Haves for Effective Interventions

As interventionists, we have to advocate for what we know will help our students attain the most progress in the little time that we have to work with them.  Research has shown correlations between the following key factors and successful interventions. 1.  Small group size When considering the intervention group size it is important that …

RTI: A Work in Progress

Response to Intervention (RTI) is a multi-tiered system of support that was created to provide students the academic support they need.  In theory, RTI would decrease the number of students misidentified for special education services, provide students with the support they need before they fail, and provide students with high-quality differentiated classroom instruction/interventions.  Although RTI …

Optimizing Literacy Instruction for our Special Education Students: Part 2

If a student has gone through the Response to Intervention (RTI) tiers and is now receiving special education they are showing a need for highly individualized instruction. They need highly trained teachers who have a deep understanding of literacy and can provide the student with individualized support throughout their entire day. The student will receive …

Optimizing Literacy Instruction for our Special Education Students: Part 1

I cannot help but feel troubled and anxious when a student is classified and given a label.  Even with Response to Intervention (RTI) in place, I worry and wonder if we did everything we could for this child before it came to this point? I wonder if this child received high-quality classroom instruction throughout his/her …

Expert Intervention Teachers: Money Well Spent

This is blog post number 4 of 4 inspired by Mary Howard’s book RTI From All Sides:  What Every Teacher Needs to Know.  We found this book to be a treasure and whole-heartedly encourage you to purchase it.   Well-trained literacy interventionists know how to choose high-quality resources and are able to design and plan effective instruction that …

Literacy Interventions: Let’s think outside of the box

Reading Mary Howard's RTI From All Sides:  What Every Teacher Needs to Know challenged and changed my perceptions about how literacy interventions might look.  Before we begin an intervention we need to collect information about the student.  We need to be flexible in many aspects when planning for literacy interventions. Use assessments wisely When working with our tier …