My child is struggling 
Now that my child has 
NCLD
Response to Intervention (RTI) is a highly charged issue that, in lay terms, seems like a useful approach to learning more about how a student benefits from targeted instruction. What is RTI and why is this such a charged issue?
Don Deshler
Response to Intervention is a promising method of alternate identification that can both promote effective practices in schools and help to close the gap between identification and treatment. Basically, all RTI models are interested in evaluating how students respond when they are provided with quality instruction. If certain students struggle in learning and performing a set of targeted tasks, instructional modifications are tried and the progress of students continues to be monitored to determine their responsiveness to instruction. If students continue to experience difficulty in learning, the instruction provided to them becomes increasingly explicit and intensive.
One of the appealing features of RTI models is the fact that students remain in their general education classroom while their performance is continually monitored within the context of their grade-level curriculum materials and instruction. This approach is not a "wait to fail" approach as has often been the case when IQ-Achievement Discrepancy models are used. That is, generally students must struggle through several grades (third grade or beyond) until they demonstrate a sufficiently large enough discrepancy to qualify for specialized services.
There are still many unanswered questions, however, surrounding the application of RTI on a broad scale basis including such things as:
- What should be the cut-score(s) used to determine that a student is not responsive to intervention?
- What should an RTI model look like in a middle or high school science classroom (most of the research to date has been done in grades K-3 with basic reading and math tasks)?
- What other testing should accompany RTI measures, e.g., should measures of a student's cognitive abilities be taken to differentiate non-responders with LD from non-responders with mental retardation? If this distinction is not made, the LD category, in effect, could disappear or be dramatically changed in terms of its underlying constructs.
- Will it be feasible to mobilize general education teachers to embrace the RTI model? Its success, in large measure, is dependent upon their willingness to adopt a significantly different instructional role than they have traditionally played?
- Will it be feasible to apply RTI on a large scale and still maintain fidelity of implementation?
The list of unanswered questions is long and thus, concerns have been raised about the implications of these issues on the ultimate effectiveness of the model in determining the presence of LD in students across grade levels and skills areas.
NCLD
In terms of research, what do you think the diagnostic process is going to look like ten years from now and which avenues of research currently underway do you feel most optimistic about?
Don Deshler
I am optimistic that significant answers will emerge from the research that is currently being conducted on different ways to identify students as having a learning disability. Some of the brightest minds in our field are currently conducting research on issues surrounding LD determination (both in education and related fields, such as neuroscience). In order to resolve the broad array of yet unanswered questions, it will be necessary to have continued federal investments in assessment, learning, and policy research since the ultimate solutions to LD determination must address both the technical and contextual/values/biases factors that are always in play in the complex dynamic surrounding LD determination. As researchers work to refine existing RTI models and to address the many issues related to its implementation, it is imperative that they carefully seek to understand the practical constraints and realities confronting practitioners and parents. If these perspectives are not considered, problems of adoption and integration of any new model of LD determination can be significantly hampered.
Discussion Questions from Dr. Sheldon Horowitz
- Does the SEA (short for State Education Agency, also known as the State Deptartment of Education) where I live use the best approach to allowing students with LD to get special education services?
- How much of the responsibility for teaching students with LD should be shared with regular classroom teachers, and how might general and special education personnel better work together to discover (before any formal testing is done) a student's strengths and weaknesses, AND how he or she responds to focused intentional instruction?
Donald Deshler, Ph.D., is a member of NCLD's Professional Advisory Board, a professor in the School of Education at the University of Kansas and director of the University's Center for Research on Learning (CRL). He is also a co-director of the National Research Center on Learning Disabilities (NRCLD), which focuses on the accurate and early identification of children with LD by reviewing and conducting research, disseminating information, and providing technical assistance linking research to practice.
