Early Intervention for Young Children At-Risk for Learning Disabilities

A new system, Recognition and Response, is being developed that will help teachers and parents identify young children ages 3-5 who may be at-risk for learning disabilities. The Recognition and Response system will also give teachers and parents strategies to help these children; and it may prevent many young children from experiencing school failure, being referred for formal evaluation, and/or being placed in special education.

This system, which is explained in a new report, “Recognition and Response: An Early Intervening System for Young Children At-Risk for Learning Disabilities,”* may revolutionize the ways in which we address the needs of young children with disabilities and improve their entire educational experience. It is based on the Response-to- Intervention (RTI) model of identifying learning disabilities. With RTI, those children who do not respond to intensive interventions in the general education setting are referred for special education. One of the benefits of the RTI model is that children do not have to “wait to fail” before they receive interventions.

"Recognizing the needs of young children who may show early signs of learning disabilities is an important step to helping these children be successful in their first school experiences,” says Mary Ruth Coleman, co-author of the report and professor/researcher at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. “This work will help us support parents and teachers as they look for promising ways to respond to the needs of these children."

"As we explore these promising practices we will also be working to establish the research evidence for the effectiveness of the Recognition and Response System in early education programs,” adds Virginia Buysse, co-author of the study. “This should help us think about quality programming for all children, including those who show early signs of learning difficulties."

Highlights of the report, which was funded by the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, follow.

How Recognition and Response for Young Children Works
As mentioned above, the proposed Recognition and Response system builds on the work that has been done on Response-to-Intervention. It is also based on the premise that when parents and teachers recognize that a young child may not be learning in an expected manner, they can take steps to enhance the child’s early school success.

The Recognition and Response systematically responds to a child’s learning difficulties. As a first step, the quality of early learning for all children is assessed. Then, educators make modifications, tailor instructional strategies, and provide appropriate supports for those children who struggle to learn.

The system involves four elements:

• An intervention hierarchy entailing three tiers of instruction and intervention.
• Screening, assessment, and progress monitoring to guide the teacher’s decision to move a child from one tier to the next.
• Research-based curriculum, instruction, and intervention.
• Collaborative problem-solving.

Tiers of Instruction
Each tier of instruction addresses specific educational practices, interventions, and assessments. In Tier 1, the teacher provides all children with a research-based curriculum and effective teaching strategies. Also, all children receive screening, assessment, and progress monitoring in key academic, health, and development areas. This allows educators to determine whether most children (approximately 80 percent) are making adequate progress and to identify the children who need additional supports. 

In Tier 2, teachers provide interventions and curriculum modifications that require minimum adjustment to classroom routines to the children who do not make adequate progress in Tier 1. Again, decisions are guided by assessment and best practices.

In Tier 3, teachers implement more intensive and individualized instruction for those children who do not make adequate progress in Tier 2. Educators make instructional decisions through collaborative problem solving, which is guided by assessment and best practices.

Children who don’t make adequate progress in Tier 3 may need to be referred for formal evaluation for learning disabilities or other special needs.

Screening, Assessment, and Progress Monitoring
In Tier 1, timely, comprehensive screening should occur for all children within three months of their entering the program. Ongoing screening and progress monitoring can show which children meet key benchmarks, which are developing identified skills, and which are not making adequate progress.

In Tier 2, the formal and informal assessments used in Tier 1 focus more closely on areas of concern for children who do not make adequate progress in Tier 1.

In Tier 3, teachers may need to use norm-referenced and standardized diagnostic tests, along with consultation with parents and early childhood specialists, when seeking information on a child’s eligibility for special education services.

Research-Based Curriculum, Instruction, and Focused Interventions
Research-based practice and targeted intervention will enhance the learning of children with and without disabilities. A research-based curriculum and effective teaching will help ensure the majority of children grow and develop in all domains. Assessment will help teachers improve general education programs and provide more targeted interventions for children who may be at risk of learning problems.

Future efforts should focus on identifying research-based interventions teachers can draw on to respond to a child’s individual learning characteristics at each tier of the intervention hierarchy.

Collaborative Problem-Solving for Decision-Making
To decide when to move a child from one tier to the next or to select assessment or intervention strategies for a child, teachers should rely on the problem-solving process. This process involves defining the problem, analyzing the problem, developing a plan, and evaluating the plan to determine whether it effectively addressed the child’s goals. A critical component of the problem-solving process is using data to make decisions about instructional strategies and evaluate their effectiveness.

Response to Intervention (RTI) and Research on RTI
The Recognition & Response system is based on the RTI model for identifying learning disabilities, which allows for early and intensive interventions for struggling students. RTI’s benefits are: children do not have to “wait to fail” before they receive additional services and supports, and it promotes a collaborative approach to delivering supports and services. Generally, RTI is based on:

• Multiple tiers of intervention, with the first tier reflecting general education and the final tier special education.
• A problem-solving approach to identify problems, develop an intervention plan, and assess the plan’s effectiveness.
• A data collection/assessment system to guide decision making at each tier.

An additional RTI practice that has emerged is the use of a particular research-based intervention for a small group of children with similar needs.

Research has revealed that RTI has many positive aspects. First, RTI effectively identifies children at risk for learning difficulties. Second, because RTI focuses on sound instructional practices, it is a promising methodology.  Third, providing interventions in kindergarten, and possibly earlier, could decrease the number of children later placed in special education.

However, questions about RTI implementation have not yet been resolved. While researchers generally agree on RTI’s key components and tiered implementation, there is less consensus about the nature and focus of interventions, the duration or intensity of the interventions, and the benchmarks used to determine when more intensive interventions are needed. Also, research on RTI has not yet addressed some importantareas. For instance, most of the studies included school age children, which leaves unanswered questions about how an RTI model could be implemented effectively in early education settings. Finally, as most of the studies focused on language and literacy, we don’t have as much information on how RTI will affect children who experience difficulties in other areas, such as math, social-emotional development, behavior, and language development.

Early Childhood Developments that Make Early Intervention Important
Several trends have stressed the importance of services for young children, all of which should be considered when developing an early intervention system for them. They are:

• Increasing evidence shows that the quality of early childhood programs helps determine children’s social, language, and cognitive progress and school readiness skills.
• The school readiness movement has defined the components and stressed the importance of school readiness for young children. Furthermore, education policies are emphasizing early literacy, and state standards are being developed that align child outcomes with the curriculum. Schools are also being asked to assess children’s achievement in pre-K.
• Creating public early education programs is gaining momentum in the U.S., with most states now offering some form of pre-K education to 4 year-olds and some 3 year-olds. A Multi-State Study of Pre-Kindergarten found that children enrolled in these programs have made small but meaningful gains; children’s progress could be greater if all programs had been of higher quality.
• The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) acknowledged the importance of prevention and early intervention for young children with disabilities by establishing the Infant-Toddler and Preschool programs. The Infant-Toddler program requires states to develop a system of early intervention services for children with developmental delays or disabilities, ages birth – 3. The Preschool Program requires states to provide a free and appropriate public education and related services for children with developmental delays or disabilities, ages birth – 3.
• The Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, National Center for Learning Disabilities, National Association for the Education of Young Children, and other partners are to examine the evidence base for establishing an early intervention system for early childhood and for building a system that addresses critical issues in early childhood education.

Recommendations for Support and Adoption of the Recognition and Response System

• Further develop the Recognition and Response system by specifying more detail for each of its four components and creating the tools and resources to implement each component.
• Conduct further research to evaluate the efficacy of the Recognition and Response System for young children in natural settings.
• Develop and evaluate strategies to disseminate information about the Recognition and Response system to a wide audience, including professionals, parents, and the general public.
• Develop or adapt policies on standards and competencies to support the widespread adoption and implementation of the Recognition and Response System by the early childhood field.

*The authors of the report are Mary Ruth Coleman, Virginia Buysse, and Jennifer Neitzel of the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

For the complete report, go to http://www.ncld.org/images/stories/downloads/recog_response/2006fpgsynthesis_recognitionandresponse.pdf