Pete & Pam Wright on What’s Wrong with RTI for Students with LD
Pete and Pam Wright produce the Wrightslaw special education website, books, and newsletter, and conduct advocacy training programs for parents around the country. Pam is a psychotherapist; Pete, a prominent attorney, won the 1993 landmark Shannon Carter case before the U.S. Supreme Court, benefiting children with disabilities. In an interview with Smart Kids’ Sheryl Knapp, the couple went on the record about the increasingly pervasive trend to intervene first and then evaluate—a strategy promoted by IDEA 2004 known as Response to Intervention (RTI).
SK: Are you finding that schools are doing a better job interpreting and implementing RTI than they were when it first was introduced?
Pete: We are seeing more emphasis on the concept of RTI, but what does that really mean? Many school districts tell parents, “No, we cannot do a comprehensive evaluation of your child until we have tried RTI.” Children are spending months—or years in RTI.
That’s like saying, because you have a stomachache, I will tell you to take two aspirin a day, and if that doesn’t work a week later we’ll try 10 aspirin a day, and if that doesn’t work we’ll try a bottle a day… and once we know that none of these work, we’ll do a comprehensive diagnostic assessment with a gastroenterologist specialist.
SK: Are the schools using RTI as a diagnostic tool in itself then?
Pete: More like a delay tactic, used to postpone evaluations.
Pam: In theory RTI sounds good: We’ll give an intervention and after two weeks we’ll measure. But the success depends upon having teachers who are proficient in understanding and measuring progress, skills, and reading methods—and that’s not happening. That’s going to take a lot of time to happen. I think that’s the real Achilles heel of this program.
SK: So you don’t think that RTI is making schools implement more research-based practices?
Pete: I think that’s certainly the intent, and there may be districts that are doing that, but those aren’t the districts we hear about. We hear about districts that use RTI to delay doing a comprehensive evaluation to see what the kid’s needs are.
Pam: Change in schools takes a lot of time. I always think about trying to turn the Queen Mary around in the middle of the ocean; you don’t just turn her on a dime. For RTI to work, millions of teachers will need to learn how to use research-based teaching methods and how to measure and monitor student progress. School districts have no desire to do these necessary things. That’s a huge problem.
Join the conversation by sharing your experiences with RTI.
November 29th, 2011 at 5:19 pm
I have found that schools don’t only use RTI to delay evaluations, but even once a student qualifies for special ed and gets an IEP, they often will not give the child special ed reading intervention. The team often maintains that the child is making progress in RTI (ie the general curriculum) and that there fore do not need special ed reading intervention.
Even when one points out that the child is losing ground against the peer group based on standardized testing, the team will remain steadfast. I believe it is a tactic to keep services off the IEP so that the school can be flexible in changing or eliminating services without dealing with procedural safe guards and without explicit goals and progress reporting to the parents. Whats more, parents often do not understand the difference between services delivered re RTI vs special ed.
December 1st, 2011 at 9:48 am
Both of my daughters were “victims” of RTI. Based on our experience, the cost to evaluate is significantly LESS than the cost to delay and to develop and assess multiple interventions… never mind the cost to the child (and family) in academic and emotional trauma.
December 1st, 2011 at 10:02 am
I have taught LD for 30 years. I have seen many changes, mostly for the good in the area of Special Education. But RTI is being misused and abused at the expense of wonderfully bright students with LD. By the time they get through RTI, they most often are in 3rd grade. Each teacher in Kindergarten “watches” them and by the time they realize there’s something wrong, it’s time for summer, and then a new teacher “watches” them for another year. RTI drags on and on. Only parents who read up on LD and what’s going on are knowledgeable enough to ask for and persist in their request for testing. Some ask, but not in writing, so it’s never done. Teachers don’t push, special ed people don’t push (don’t want to increase their caseload), and certainly the principal does not push. It’s totally up to the parents to understand and push for testing. If a child gets to grade 3 with no support, he/she has already developed coping mechanisms, some positive some negative such as cheating, as a means of survival. Those coping mechanisms are hard to break or reverse. In addition, their sense of failure, fear of trying is intense and “set”, and is almost impossible to reverse. These behaviors being set deeply (I’m dumb, I can’t do it) are the real failure of the RTI system. Given remediation and special instruction, a child can improve in reading, but it is very hard to reverse their negative self image and fear of trying new things. Parents, you MUST advocate for your child…..long and hard!!!
December 1st, 2011 at 10:34 am
I tried to get my daughter help . I tried to tell the school I suspected a LD but they would give her the same accommediations never offer new ones on 504 and say they cannot make teachers tutor after school its not in their contract. They could not give her a one to one every year the same process but they didnt know if it worked as no one had any data to offer of visits, which werent scheduled in advance like i said she needed. (ADHD) no one provided data of when she came during school how much time was spent with her individually if any but they wouldnt test her because she refused to change classes in march ( no one contacted me from the school) and cause she refused the one student tutor that I offered to pay cause that girl bullied her. so I was told cause she didnt switch classes or accept this tutor they would not test her for a LD> I paid and she had a non verbal learning disability and now I am having trouble getting them to put it on her 504 which is the only information given to teachers and they dont know she has this disability.
December 1st, 2011 at 9:49 pm
It is unconscionable what is happening to gifted and 2e and LD–any ESE–in the current so-called “reform” and it’s ridiculous “accountability” and “standardized achievement” era. RTI is just another grand idea that is as poorly implemented as NCLB. Schools do not know what they are doing. They label gifted dyslexics as ADHD when they do not have ADHD and never had any trouble focusing, and they deny dyslexia when ALL of the obvious signs are there. Then when the child is functioning at or above grade level because they are brilliant, they refuse to remediate for their dyslexia in the years that it matters most. Then they try to deny they are gifted, even though the school themselves tested the child and determined them gifted. Then teachers tell them to “focus” as if that’s going to help a gifted child with dyslexia be able to decode words and write essays without appropriate remediation. Then when they can’t do it, they punish them with loss of recess, and suggest behavior programs…. Tragic. The personnel that do this to children need a behavior program. Gifted children are highly sensitive, and schools are highly insensitive to them. There is no compassion and no support in any legislation of late either. Standard achievement is based on the mean, and offers nothing for these children, aside from boredom and humiliation.
December 2nd, 2011 at 1:03 pm
I found the biggest obstacle to be teachers and RTI administrators who did not understand how to properly progress monitor. The minimal progress my son (mid-first grade) was making in Correct Letter Sounds per minute was being used to keep him at his current RTI Tier even though he could not blend those letter sounds together into words. Comprehension was being assessed using passages he had already been exposed to 3 or more times. Our repeated requests for a multi-sensory reading program were ignored because according to the RTI Team he was making “progress” in their current intervention. His teacher explained this progress to be his ability to identify more letter names than he could at the beginning of the year. I had to explain that needing to even work on letter names in January of first grade is a “red flag”, not progress! The RTI Team did not even know that their own data results were evidence a disability. It was a mess and it took a private evaluation, a state mediation session, a letter to the US DOE regarding RTI being used as a delay tactic and my son’s entire K and 1st grade years before they would acknowledge he needed special education. I truly believe if I had not fought so hard he would still be sitting in an RTI Tier.
I’m a proponent of RTI but definitely see its pitfalls when under-informed individuals are in charge. Dyslexia/LD training should be mandatory for all RTI Teams.
December 5th, 2011 at 10:14 am
Deb, You are certainly correct about the need for appropriate training for an RTI team. Yet again, parents are faced with needing to become thoroughly knowledgeable about their child’s issues, what constitutes appropriate support — and how to pursue getting that support despite often uninformed RTI personnel.
December 19th, 2011 at 11:45 pm
Dear Deb and Jane,
We have been there with our son got to love those state mediated session! Now will they follow the mediation agreement! I can tell you that Wilson an OG were helpful. Now as an 8th grade technology is key. His spelling is still very poor and his has a Disability of Written Expression. If I can be of any help please just ask. When it’s time request a AT eval. The book readers and I Pad and Apps work wonders for organizational problems and reading support! Keep researching and ask for data make sure the IEP includes data and benchmark.
Renee