Making Response to Intervention More Accessible

I always have such great conversations and idea-bouncing with my email buddy, a school psychologist in Ohio. She emailed me today with a question/query/frustration that I'm sure TONS of us, including myself deal with: teacher push-back and reluctance to adopt the Response to Intervention (RTI) model. Here's some of what she had to say:

"Myself and another psych in the district are trying to create a framework and/or standard protocol model for the RtI process... [T]here is a great deal of talk about the resistance we are facing in developing an intervention framework... My frustration is trying to foster teacher buy in.... I want to move towards identifying students area of weakness, developing a student specific goal and then selecting the appropriate intervention for said deficit... Right now, the IAT type meetings {student support team meetings, I imagine} we have involve the teacher complaining, the Interv. Spec. doing a small reading group and DIBELS and in 4-6 weeks saying no progress-evaluate. UGH!"

Agreed, agreed, 100%! With RTI now the legal requirement for eligibility, the mode into special education is going to be changing a lot, potentially without a lot of support to the people who have to do and/or monitor the interventions: the teachers! No wonder they fight back... they don't have the support, training, time, or understanding of the model in order to implement RTI the way it's "supposed" to be done. It's much easier to stand by the old "test and place" or "discrepancy" models, which are not as fair to the child as RTI is.

My district is huge and there's no guidelines or mandates about how RTI should be done or what it's expected to look like, only that we have to be doing it. We have no specific intervention building staff, and some of our reading/math support staff don't work with the kids, only coach the teachers. We do have a lot of tutors come in from local colleges, and are putting before and after school tutoring/homework help in place, but it's hard to monitor.

I try to be basic with RTI for my teachers, and think about it more like differentiation than a separate intervention... I think people get scared by the term "intervention." What I've found in requiring academic RTI data is that teachers are doing way more differentiation than you and they realize, and when you're trying to scrounge things together, many things can be recorded as intervention. For instance: pre-teaching vocab, re-teaching lessons, shortened assignments, reduced items per page, graphic organizers/outlines, visual aids (i.e. a reminder card on the desk of steps for writing a paragraph), specially spaced lined paper, practice writing sight words in sentences, math manipulatives (tiles, cubes, counters, charts), etc. These are things teachers typically do in a classroom, but if only a few kids are getting it, it's an intervention. Sure, there are bigger things too, like special tutoring, small groups, individual pull-out, etc, but those are often too cumbersome, time-consuming, and disruptive for teachers to wrap their heads around.

My biggest obstacle is getting good, sold, appropriate data. I can get beautiful narratives and excellent information to fill into Individualized Education Plans (IEPs), but if I don't have the numbers, it's less than useful. We use the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELs) pretty extensively for reading assessment. Every kiddo gets a quarterly progress monitoring, and those who are at the strategic (1 year behind) or intensive (2+ years behind) level get monitoring much more often. Usually, I have to rely on DIBELs and reading program lesson tests (pre- and post-) for my data. What I found from past experiences is that you don't have to have nationally normed, well-known sources of data for it to be useful and meaningful. Using things like the Dolch word lists, Fry's high frequency words, and other DIBELs measures aside from Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) are useful too [Letter Naming Fluency (LNF), Initial Sound Fluency (ISF), Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF), and Phonemic Segmentation Fluency (PSF) are good for the little kiddos, especially to measure decoding interventions].

In short, I try to remember that teachers are limited in their time, resources, and ability to conduct interventions. Make it as simple yet effective as possible for them and give them easy data tracking ideas. Meet them where they are. Remind them of all the differentiation they actually do, and find away to quantify it.

Readers, please share how your school/district manages RTI! How do you get teachers to "buy in"? What do you do to help/field/alleviate their frustrations? What sources of data have you found to be easy yet effective to implement?

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My Lunch Buddy is on "Vacation"

You may remember my Michael Jackson-loving, big dreamer blog star, H. A quick recap for our viewers at home: H is diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome and exhibits "classic" symptoms: rote, bookish speech (and hilarious one-liners), poor peer social interactions and a preference for being with adults, resistance to changes in routine, and extreme negative reactions to overstimulating (loud, noisy, busy, overpopulated) environments.

H was a case I looked at due to our ongoing state review, but was one we had already planned to reevaluate. H was receiving Integrated Co-Teaching (ICT) services within the general education classroom. When she moved up to first grade, she began having an extremely difficult time maintaining herself in the large classroom, and would shut down for hours at a time when overwhelmed. She would cry, sob, refuse to do work, and “ramble” incoherently. She also was refusing to go into the lunchroom, saying she is “scared” of the noise. She was unable to calm herself independently, a teacher is generally needed to do so, or removal from the overstimulating environment. Crying/shutting down episodes typically happened 2-3 times per half an hour period, and the crying lasted for up to 30 minutes afterwards.

H's special education teacher started interventions at the beginning of the year. Here's a quick list, none of which made a significant impact on her behavior, as little change occurred in her shutting down:

-planned breaks following periods of appropriate work.

-pulled into small groups within the class, to isolate her from the whole class.

-attempts to console, soothe, and calm her within the classroom (almost always had to be removed due to the disruption and intensity).

-given headphones to wear within the classroom to help her block out some of the noise of the other children. 

-lunch in my office, outside of the overstimulating lunch room (always a hoot).

-individual counseling on coping, calming down, and problem-solving skills at least 3x/week.

As a result of the reevaluation, we decided to move H to a classroom specifically for students with Autism. It proved to be a fantastic move that all of the Committee on Special Education (CSE) was pleased with (including H, who was reportedly needing "a vacation" from our school). The self-contained classes for students with Autism in our district not only target the academic needs of these students, but also do intense social, problem-solving, and coping skill training. The kiddos get to socialize with students "like them" within a controlled setting, teaching them age-appropriate interactions and helping them to overcome social and emotional deficits inherent in the disorder. They also learn more appropriate ways to cope with frustrations, changes in routine, and other upsets, as the "default" coping mechanism for many students with Autism is to cry/shut down, self-stimulate, or in extreme cases, self-injure (bite, scratch, or head-bang). 

H is reportedly doing great over at her new school, and while I will miss my daily lunch buddy and her fantastic (if inadvertent) humor, she's in a much more appropriate educational setting. Enjoy your "vacation," H!

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Easy Behavior Management Tool!

Just found a spectacular behavior tracking tool! So often, I see teachers get overwhelmed and bogged down by trying to monitor BIPs or establish effective, yet simple, classroom management plans. Their behavioral data gathering becomes too complex and time consuming, and it really doesn't have to be. Someday, I'm going to post some easy behavior tracking ideas, but until then, check this out!

Mrs. Patton, at Mrs. Patton's Patch, posted about ClassDojo, a real-time online system that lets you track points for positive and negative behaviors students exhibit during the day. This would be a great program for those who love to use technology in the classroom. Pass it on to your teacher friends!

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Question from a Student Reader

I got a question at my Facebook page, and I wanted to share my response for any other undergraduate students considering graduate school and a career in school psychology. Please share your own experiences as those who survived graduate school and found a successful career!

May I ask what it is that initially drew you to the field as an undergraduate student and how you went about securing yourself a place in a grad program? - Monica

My response:

I majored in psychology and sociology as an undergraduate and I always knew I wanted to work with children. My godmother is a school psychologist, so she made me aware of the field (because God knows no one really knows what we do unless they know a school psych). I knew I didn't have the patience to be a teacher, and didn't want to be a school counselor and do counseling/career involvement, so school psychology sounded like a great way to put my enjoyment of working with children and my love of psychology and the field of education together.

During my undergrad, I was a "psychology scholar" (honor given to 2 freshman every year, who then help professors with research and receive a small stipend for the duration of undergrad), secretary of Psi Chi, and a TA for three years for the statistics & research methods class. Any kind of stuff like that shows an involvement in and appreciation for the field will be great for a resume. I also did two semester long internships. My first one was with a social worker at an alternative school, for students who either had dropped out or who couldn't make it at the public high school and were there to get a GED. There, I did academic tutoring, individual counseling, and group social skills/life planning work. My second internship was with a school psychologist at a middle & high school. I got to do academic Response to Intervention (RTI) work with kindergarten classes using the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS), do screening tests for incoming students to the school, sit in on CSE meetings, observe students and gather behavioral data for intervention planning, and do a small group intervention on academic/organizational skills. Between the two of them, I got a great taste of the work that professionals can do to help students struggling in the classroom. I graduated a semester early from my undergrad program, and during the semester in between my graduation and when I started grad school, I continued working with kids at the local library, particularly with preschoolers.

I interviewed at a handful of graduate programs in the area, and I think that the fact that I had experience working with kids, had done research, understood the demands and expectations of a teacher (from my time as a TA, which was even discussed at my internship interviews), and understood the field all were factors that helped me get in. As a graduate student, I was on the interview panel in my 2nd and 3rd years to help choose the incoming 1st year graduate students. I can't remember exactly what our criteria were, but I know we looked at some of the following things in our candidates: experience with children, research experience/interests, why they want to be a school psychologist, knowledge about the field, and knowledge about education.

What drew you to the field of school psychology? How did you get into a graduate program? What advice do you have for students considering the field?

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Checking In, Hopefully Not Checking Out

After blogging about a universal Tier I PBIS support our school has, our Tiger Ticket program, I wanted to share another initiative new this year in our building. Check-in, Check-out is an evidenced-based Tier II intervention program promoted by the gods at the OSEP Center on Positive Behavior Interventions & Supports. Tier II are secondary prevention measures designed for 10-15% of the school population, or those who do not respond to the universal measures enacted for the whole school at Tier I. Behavioral Tier II typically looks like small group interventions and mentoring in my district.

Check-in, Check-out (hereafter referred to as CICO, because I'm too lazy to type it out every time) is a simple, individualized mentoring program. A mentor is given a case load of approximately 10 students to meet with individually during the first 15 minutes of the school day. Students were chosen for CICO by examining data from last year. If a student had 10+ office discipline referrals during the 2010-2011 school year, or if they have a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP), they were put into CICO. From this data, we started the year with 55 students on CICO. Yeah... we've got some behavior problems.

Every day in the morning the mentor "checks in" in the classroom during breakfast and gives CICO students a daily report card. There are three goals they are working on in our building: be safe, be kind, and be responsible. The student then goes through their day and teachers rate their behavior on a 0-2 point scale in every subject area. During the 15 minutes before dismissal, the mentor returns to "check out" and see how the student did for the day. They record the number of points they earned on their daily report card, make sure they're ready to go home, and praise them for (hopefully) great behavior. Here are our daily report cards:

This is the card for our PreK-5th graders.

This is the card for our 6th, 7th, and 8th graders.

Due to a staff shortage and my principal's preference, I took on a CICO caseload. I have seven 6th grade boys, all in self-contained classrooms, two of whom were part of my social skills/anger management group last year. I also have one 8th grade girl who is new to our school this year who has already proven to be an interestingly behaved young lady. I shall have my hands full.

I'm really looking forward to getting into the data. Every two weeks, CICO mentors will be turning in a data sheet with all the point totals from the daily report cards, which will be entered into an online behavioral database. From there, we'll be able to analyze the data at 6-week intervals to make decisions about what the students need. Are they meeting their goal of 80% of their points? Should we prepare to phase them off CICO? Are they holding steady just below their goal? Should we continue CICO or add more mentoring to the program (Check and Connect)? Are they not meeting their goal? Do we need to look into more individualized services at the Tier III level, like individual counseling or a BIP?

Check back in, hopefully I'll have some interesting info for you to check out! (oh word play, I am so witty)

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When Getting a Ticket is a Good Thing

With the first week back to school coming to a close, I thought I'd write about one of the new Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS) programs we're going to be rockin' this year. In past years before I came around, the Tiger Ticket system was in place, but not used extensively or to it's fullest potential, so we're trying hard this year to make the most of it. The Tiger Ticket program (aptly named after our mascot) is a typical school-wide, ticket incentive system that fulfills the universal stage of PBIS, which is supposed to meet the needs of 80% of our students (the green base of the pyramid below).

Tickets are awarded to kids "caught" showing good behavior that reflects the values of responsibility, respect, and success. All tickets go into a tub in the classroom and every day, each teacher draws a winner from their tub to receive a small prize (pencil, crayons, stickers). All the tickets go back into the tub, and at the end of every week, a winner is chosen to win a bigger prize (small gift card, small toy or game, homework passes, special lunches). Then, once a month, all the tickets go into one large tub for the whole school, and a winner is chosen for an uber prize (large gift card, passes to a local event or amusement park, video games, etc).

We also are giving out Tiger Tickets to homerooms, in addition to individual kids. If a whole homeroom is "caught" showing good classroom, hallway, cafeteria, or auditorium behavior, or generally going above and beyond expectations, they'll get a Homeroom Tiger Ticket. The homeroom tickets will be one of the criteria for a class to win Homeroom of the Month.

I've decided that every day I'm going to make a point to leave the office and go hand out Tiger Tickets to kids and classrooms. First, it gets me out of my office, and one of my goals is to be more visible and involved in the classes this year. Giving out tickets gets me seeing kids and visiting rooms looking for positive things, not going because someone is throwing a chair, running around the building or has a weapon. Second, it reinforces the PBIS initiative in our building, and gives both the students and staff buy-in to the program. If teachers see someone giving out tickets, or if their kids come back from specials with a ticket, it makes it more likely that they'll start giving tickets out too. Plus, if the kids see their peers getting rewarded, they're going to shape up to try to earn a prize.

Only thing stopping me from showering the world with Tiger Tickets? The pain as my feet get used to wearing high-heeled shoes every day again. Oy.

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Goal Setting

Well, with Labor Day tomorrow, the summer truly is coming to an end. Boyfriend and I are having a family get -together tomorrow with our parents, my grandpa, my future step-brother, and Boyfriend's niece (referenced in this blog entry).

 

Tuesday is the first day back at my building, staff only. I'll be leading much of the opening day activities for the staff, as my colleague and CSE chairperson recently had surgery and will be out until at least October. I'll be discussing new Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS) initiatives for the year, the upcoming Response to Intervention (RTI) regulations, new Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) expectations, and other tidbits. Hopefully I won't be a snooze! Wednesday the kiddos return. I have to be honest, I really haven't been excited to return to school since I spent almost the whole summer working, but I am really looking forward to seeing my munchkins! My running friend S, Squirmy McAntsypants, and other blog stars will be returning, but others have moved on. D, the kiddo who Hulked out and threw a chair across my office, was placed in an agency program due to extreme unsafe behaviors, and A was placed at a different school in a class for students with Autism.

As I start the new year, I want to go back to my roots. Every year during my graduate program, we had to update a portfolio of our experiences, case studies, reports, and other important work samples. It mostly was the bane of everyone's "busy work" existence, but once we graduated, it ended up being a comprehensive testament to our Master's degrees (see me being glass half full). One document that was constantly tweaked was our "role reflection," where we had to outline three goals we had for ourselves for the coming year. Here's some new goals for the 2011-2012 school year:

1. Be more visible. As a school psychologist, I spend an insane amount of time testing, writing reports, and developing IEPs. Sometimes I don't notice I've wasted half a day at my desk until it's 1:00pm. This year, I want to be in classrooms more, whether it's assisting with a lesson, observing, doing whole class interventions, or catching kids "being good." I want to have a positive image for myself not only with the kids, but with the staff. Since I've been in the building for a year, I want to end the adjustment period and make solid, positive relationships with my staff.
2. Keep better data. Our district was evaluated by the state this year with regards to our BIPs, and only one school passed (not mine, but thankfully the school of one of my Master's cohort friends). I'm going to be a stickler this year both for myself and my staff about BIPs, hence our opening day discussion. I'm a total data nerd, so I'm going to work on getting better, more consistent progress-monitoring data for the behavior plans in our building. It requires a lot of time and energy, and often gets pushed by the way-side when other more critical things come up, unfortunately. Data will be useful not only to monitor student growth, but also for reporting out to parents and administration, and at the CSE table.
3. Be more involved in the profession. Sure, I'm a member of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), the New York Association of School Psychologists (NYASP), and my regional school psych organization, but that doesn't necessarily mean I do much more than pay dues. I recently became the co-chair representative of my NYASP chapter and am on the planning committee for the 2012 NYASP Conference, which will be held in my area. Next weekend, I'll be attending the NYASP Executive Board meeting in Albany, NY (which I'm sure to blog about), and later this month, will be enjoying a regional luncheon conference. I would love to attend the 2012 NASP Conference in February in Philadelphia, PA, which will be dependent on funds. Professional organizations can be hugely important and beneficial for your career, so I'm looking forward to cultivating those relationships.

What are your goals for the upcoming school year? T-Minus 3 days folks...

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Testing, Testing

I've been exchanging phone calls with M, a psychologist from our Central Committee of Special Education (CSE) building, this week to arrange to pick up my test kits. See, probably the biggest part of being a school psychologist is conducting psycho-educational tests to determine if a child is eligible for special education services. These most often contain a cognitive test (read: IQ test; the "psycho" part) and an achievement, or educational, test. These measure a child's potential to learn (the cognitive) and what they actually have learned (the achievement). In traditional school psychology, if a student's cognitive ability, or their ability to learn, is not comparable to their actual achievement, their may be reason to suspect that they have an educational disability. So, if Sadie's IQ is 100 (the average standard score), while in math, reading, and writing she has standard scores below 70, it suggests that she is capable of learning at a typical rate, but that she has not achieved to the "average" level. This is called the discrepancy model, which is quickly being replaced with Response to Intervention (RTI), as per federal and state mandates. In the RTI model, students who are identified as struggling are engaged in targeted academic interventions in order to increase their skills before they fall low enough to qualify for special education. The whole discrepancy vs. RTI battle is something I could write about forever, so to spare you, there's information about the two models here at the LD Info website. You're welcome.

Anyhoo, I digress. Being a new psychologist in the district, I had no test kits available to me at my building. The psychologist who was previously in my spot took them all when she went to her new building. M called me this morning to say I could come over to another building in the district to get my test kits. Hooray! You must understand, getting test kits is like Christmas for school psychologists. New manuals to read, new manipulatives (read: toys) to test out, etc. They're like a security blanket, the one constant in the job that rarely changes and that we come back to day in and day out. Remember how I said I was a dork? Indeed.

When we spoke this morning, M suggested that I come early so that he could get some test kits that he had been saving specifically for me. After driving around the building block literally 5 times trying to figure out where to park (I still hate big city transportation drama), I finally get inside and find M. What blew my mind was the sheer lack of resources that were available. In the tiny stock room, there were many test kits that were extremely out of date, masses of test booklets but no way to score them, and very few kits of the tests used most frequently by psychologists. I couldn't decide if I was surprised by this. But, all of that aside, I should be very thankful that I got what I did, especially being a brand new psychologist and at the bottom of the feeding chain. I struggled back to my car with a few cognitive tests, behavior rating scales, and a visual-motor processing evaluation. Time to hunker down with my security blankets.