Intervention

Appropriate Interventions for ELLsPositive Behavioral Supports (PBS)

Response to Intervention (RTI)

Interventions

• Indirect– Individual Consultation– Group Consultation– Classroom Consultation– Systems Consultation

• Direct:– Individual Counseling– Group Counseling– Family Counseling– Direct Instruction

INDIRECT INTERVENTIONSPositive Behavioral Supports

Systems ConsultationTier I

Consultant

School/ DistrictClient

Consultee

Information Needed

• Service Providers:– ESL or Bilingual Teacher– General Education Teacher– Special Education Teacher

• What they need to know:– How 2nd languages are acquired– How culture impacts learning– How SES impacts learning– Cultural and linguistic learning styles

Systems Consultation• Typical problems:

– School is experiencing bullying problems.– Student academics are low throughout the county.– District SPED has overrepresentation of diverse students.

• Common solutions:– Consultant researches effective techniques for bully-prevention

programs and teaches them to the school.– Consultant works with district to help make curriculum, special

program, or textbook decisions.– Consultant works with lawyers and/ or state DOE to ensure

that the district complies with requirements.

Group ConsultationTier II

Consultant

Group/ ClassClient

Consultee

Group Consultation• Typical problems:

– Group of children throughout the school in different classrooms experiencing the same problems.

– Entire ELL classroom of children are experiencing the same problems.

• Common solutions:– Observe and evaluate the current methods/ techniques used.– Research the best types of programs to deal with this specific

problem.– Share the results of the research and observations .– Work together to come up with solutions.

Individual ConsultationTier III

Consultant

Individual ChildClient

Consultee

Individual Consultation

• Typical problems:– Child is experiencing academic difficulties.– Child is experiencing social/emotional/behavioral

problems.

• Common solutions:– SST/CST/SIPT works with all teachers involved

• All teachers are given additional skills to help the child.

– Parent is given additional skills to help the child.– Parent & teachers work together to help the child.

Steps to Consultation w/ Diverse Consultee (Gibbs, 1980)

• Appraisal: Consultee determines the trustworthiness of the consultant.

• Investigation: Challenge the consultant to determine if they qualified to work with them.

• Involvement: Consultee will open up if they trust you to develop a relationship.

• Commitment: Consultee commits to consultant but not process.

• Engagement: Commit to the process if they believe in interpersonal skills of consultant.

Points to Consider:Client is Diverse

• Must identify consultant’s knowledge of cultural sensitivity.

• Must aid consultee in developing cultural sensitivity and knowledge about different cultural groups.

• Must aid consultee in developing understanding of system in which client works and lives.

• Work with teacher to improve development of curriculum and multicultural education.

(Duncan, 1995)

Breakdown: Improving Cultural Competence

• Self-awareness: know your own bias and the impact of this on therapy.

• Assessment of client: Understand the system and knowledge of the client

• Pre-therapy: Make client aware of what therapy is and what will happen.

• Hypothesizing: What are the problems?

• Credibility and giving: Client / Consultee must believe in the treatment.

• Discomfort/ Resistance: Therapists feelings of why is this not working?

• Client’s/ Consultee’s Perspective: Know your client

DIRECT INTERVENTIONSPositive Behavioral Supports

Individual CounselingTier III

Client

Therapist

Only 6 slides

Solution Focused Brief Therapy

Nature of People

• People are free to make choices and are not victims of their genetics or environment.

• People are basically good.

• People are basically rational.

• People respond better to a present and future counseling orientation.

• People have the ability to work through their own problems.

• Focuses on “what” people are doing and not “why” they are doing it.

• Focus on success instead of failure

Solution-Focused Method

Miracle question: “Should a miracle occur this evening while you were sleeping and when you woke up, you suddenly realized that your problems were solved, what would you be doing that would indicate to you that the miracle had actually taken place?”

Relationship questions: “What will your _____ say that will be different after the miracle?”

Asking and reinforcing exceptions to the problem solution.

Group CounselingTier II

PeerClient

PeerClient

PeerClient

PeerClient

PeerClient

PeerClient

PeerClient

Therapist

Issues of Counseling for Multicultural Clients

• Major stressors: poverty, acculturation and racial discrimination.

• Diverse clients terminate counseling sooner.• Given this, many brief therapies may be

preferred.• Example of one brief therapy that works

well in schools is Solution Focused Therapy.

Breakdown: Improving Cultural Competence

• Strategy or plan for intervention: Plan sessions based on knowledge of therapy and culture.

• Assessment of session: How did that go? What now?

• Willingness to consult: Know when you don’t know enough to go it alone.

ACADEMIC INTERVENTIONSResponse to Intervention

RTI-Tier I

• Performed on 100% of the students.

• In the case of the ELL student, this should be considered 100% of the other ELL students and not the general population.

RTI: Tier I

• Typical Problem (a)– Cultural misunderstanding about U.S. schools

• Common Solution (a)– Develop outreach programs for ELL parents. – Psychoeducational trainings concerning cultural expectations.

• Typical Problem (b)– Language problems across all areas.

• Common Solution (b)– Improve teacher understanding of L2 acquisition.– Improve the ELL program– Provide instructional opportunities in L1

Develop Outreach Programs for ELL Parents

• Communication problems (Correa, 1989; Gault, 1989; Harry, 1992a; Lynch & Stein, 1987; Turnbull & Turnbull, 1982).

• Cultural differences (Gault; Harry, 1990, 1992a; Lynch & Stein; Sanchez, 1996).

• Lack of school knowledge and/or parental knowledge (Gallegos & Gallegos, 1988; Harry, 1990 1992a; McKinney & Hocutt, 1982).

• Feelings of disconnection with or intimidation by the school (Correa; Sanchez; Yates & Ortiz, 1998).

Improve Teacher Understanding of L2 Acquisition

• Service Providers:– ESL or Bilingual Teacher– General Education Teacher– Special Education Teacher

• What they need to know:– How 2nd languages are acquired– How culture impacts learning– How SES impacts learning– Cultural and linguistic learning styles

RTI-Tier II

• ~15% of students will receive this level of intervention.

• Often in small groups or direct instruction.

• Should be research-based but also individualized for each child.

RTI: Tier II

• Typical Problems– Reading and writing deficits (76% of ELL students below grade

level in reading).

• Common Solutions for ELL– Most RTI interventions show some improvement for ELLs

(Shanahan & Beck, 2006).– Only with a mixture of the following do you find the best

improvement (Linan-Thompson, Cirino, & Vaughn, 2007)• Essential components of reading• Features of Effective Instruction• Development of English Language Skills

Development of English Language Skills

• Language Enrichment: Student has L2 enough, but may need some support. Can be done mostly in English

• Language Development: Students need more information on academic language. Can be done mostly in English.

• Remediation: Acquire critical language competencies to help compensate for disability. Need L1 & English or ESL.

• Native Language Instruction: CALP L1 to later get CALP L2; instruction in L1 to learn curriculum while learning L2.

• English as a Second Language: Use of ESL (English-only) techniques to teach curriculum.

• Instruction in English With no Other Support: Should only be done when child demonstrates no need for further support because they have CALP of 4-5.

RTI: What Language?

English-only Intervention• 91% of students met grade-

level expectations compared to 41% of students who received no intervention.

Spanish-only Intervention• 97% of students met grade-

level expectations compared to 67% of students who received no intervention.

Linan-Thompson, S., Vaughn, S., Prater, K., & Cirino, P. T., 2006

RTI-Tier III

• Child is determined to need special education services.

• Only in about 5% of total school population for SLD.

RTI: Tier III

• Typical Problem (a):– What is more important: ELL classroom time, special

education time, or general education time?

• Typical Solutions (a):– Bilingual/ Special Education Interface

• Typical Problem (b):– How do we work with parents to understand what is

happening within special education?

• Typical Solutions (b):– Educate the parents on special education.

Bilingual Special Education Possible Placements

• Full-time bilingual education with modifications• Full time general education with ESOL and

modifications• SPED consults with both general education and

bilingual education/ ESOL to plan instruction• Resource for both SPED and bilingual education/

ESOL• Full-time SPED with considerations made for

linguistic and culturally differences.

Bilingual/ Special Education Interface

• Develop a “lead” for the services who determines:– Language of instruction for each goal.– Instructional strategies accounting for L2 acquisition.– Curricula and materials used accounting for L2

acquisition.– Culturally appropriate motivators.– Who will provide services, monitor progress, and do

annual reviews?– Who will coordinate efforts from all of the

professionals?– Type of Language Intervention.

Educate Parents on Special Education

• When Harry (1992a) asked Hispanic families she was working with to show her a copy of their children’s papers, all of them had a copy of the IEP, but none of them knew what it was called or what it said.

• Gallegos and Gallegos (1988) found that a majority of Hispanic parents reported they could not understand the forms being sent home from the school. Report cards and IEPs were discussed specifically.

• Lynch and Stein’s study, when parents knew what an IEP was, only 55% of the Hispanics knew what services were on it.

• Krach (2003) found that the majority of Hispanic families were satisfied with the level of communication received from schools (much higher satisfaction than Anglo parents)

References• Kalyanpur, M. & Harry, B. (1999). Culture in Special Education. Baltimore, MD: Paul H.

Brooks Publishing Company.• Linan-Thompson, S., Cirino, P. T., & Vaughn, S. (2007). Learning Disability Quarterly, 30,

185-197.• Linan-Thompson, S., Vaughn, S., Prater, K., & Cirino, P. T. (2006). The response to

intervention of English language learners at risk for reading problems Journal of Learning Disabilities, 39 (5), 390-398

• Paneque, O., & Barbetta, P. (2006). A study of teacher efficacy of special education teachers of English language learners with disabilities. Bilingual Research Journal, 30 (1), 171-193

• Shanahan, T., & Beck, 1. (2006). Effective literacy teaching for English language learners. In D. August & T. Shanahan (Eds.), Developing literacy in second-language learners: Report of the national literacy panel on language-minority children and youth (pp. 415-488). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Eribaum Associates.

• Xu, Y., & Drame, E. (2007). Culturally appropriate context: Unlocking the potential of Response to Intervention for English language learners. Early Childhood Education Journal, 35, 305-311