Guest Post - Get a Handle on RtI

Today I am bringing you a guest post from Lauren, the author of Busy Bee Speech. She is writing about RtI and has a freebie for all of you! Take it away, Lauren.

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Get a Handle on RtI – with a Freebie!

Hey guys!  I’m so excited to guest post for Let’s Talk SLP today!  Thanks so much to Brea for letting me share a little of what’s going on in my speech room.

There are 3 letters that sometimes make me want to eat my own fist.  You know them all too well…R…T…I…aka response to intervention.

For the last couple of years, I’ve been trying to get a good handle on my RtI caseload.  It seemed like no matter how I changed it or what I tried, I always felt behind.  I either didn’t take enough data or the kids didn’t make quick enough progress.  I revamped my data and tally sheets about a million times.  Well, this year (finally), I’m happy to say that I’ve started to make some headway in the RtI department.  So, if any of you struggle in this area too, then this post is for you!

As I’m sure you all know RtI is now a necessary part of the evaluation process.  There are about a million ways you can intervene with your students – from consulting with the teacher, to more intense therapy.  I won’t bore you with all the tier talk.  I don’t think I can look at another triangle visual.  Lol.  Just remember that your interventions first and foremost should depend on the needs of the student.  Pretty much, the more they are able to do independently, the less intense their intervention should be.  You get the idea.

ASHA has some great info on their website that can explain it in more detail if you need a refresher.  Just click HERE.

All right, so I have tried several different RtI programs and labs and none of them seemed to work well with my kids or my schedule.  The labs seemed to be geared toward kids who can learn more independently.  Most of the kids that were crossing my path needed one-on-one individual help – in both articulation and language.

For articulation, I’ve found that 5-minute artic works best for me.  I take a few minutes (usually first thing in the morning or last thing in the afternoon) and pull my RtI kids out in the hallway for intense one-on-one drill.  It’s no different from them taking a bathroom break, since they only miss about 5 minutes.       

Before starting interventions I give them a pre-test to measure how many words they can produce correctly in conversational speech.  It’s usually 0%. 

I do a progress monitoring check periodically (usually every 2 weeks) to see if they are able to carry over any of the skills. 

After several weeks, I give a post-test to see how much progress they’ve actually made.  It makes it easier to decide if they are ready to be dismissed from RtI or continue through the IEP process.  Plus, all the data makes for a really pretty graph in my eval! 

You can grab these data sheets for free HERE!!  It includes the pre-test, post-test, and progress monitoring sheet.

Be sure to check out my blog in the coming weeks for some really cool resources for monitoring language skills during RtI as well! 

Lauren LaCour, MA CCC-SLP is a school-based speech-language pathologist in southern Louisiana.  You can follow her here:

Blog: busybeespeech.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BusyBeeSpeech

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BusyBeeSpeech

TPT store: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Lauren-Lacour