Center for Response to Intervention in Early Childhood

The “I” in RtI: Effective Interventions for Language and Early Literacy

Presentation to: Division for Early Childhood Conference October 16, 2009 Albuquerque, NM

Ruth Kaminski, Ph.D. Robyn Ziolkowski, Ph.D. Howard Goldstein, Ph.D.

http://www.crtiec.org

Overview

  Introduction to CRTIEC and Early Childhood RtI   Tier 2 Intervention development and research   Tier 3 Intervention development and research   Questions

Center on Response to Intervention in Early Childhood

  University of Kansas

  University of Minnesota

  Ohio State University

  Dynamic Measurement Group (Eugene, OR)

What is RtI?

  RtI is a systematic educational decision-making process designed to:   Identify students who need support early   Provide support at a level of intensity to match

need   Provide a data-based method for evaluating the

effectiveness of instructional approaches   Ultimate purpose of RtI is to meet educational needs

and maximize learning and growth of all students

Components of RtI: Multiple Levels of Intervention

Goals of CRTIEC

  Develop and validate Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions in early literacy/language.

  Develop and validate progress monitoring measures in early literacy/language.

  Conduct descriptive study of Tier 1   Disseminate findings to practitioners, policymakers,

and researchers.   Provide national leadership on RtI for young children

through the development of a national network.

What are the Realities of Early Childhood Programs?

  Issues in the Implementation of RtI in EC   Lack of evidence-based curricula/programs   Lack of time   Wide range of training/experience among staff   Turnover of staff   Need for professional development   Lack of resources/funds   Philosophical differences   Other

Intervention Development: Guiding Principles

  Curriculum and intervention must be:   appropriate for preschool children and consistent with

best practices in early childhood education   feasible for the range of early childhood settings   research-based   part of an integrated system that includes assessment

and decision making procedures

Intervention Development: Guiding Principles

  Curriculum and intervention development are guided by:   developmental research   intervention research   existing preK curricula   principles of effective instruction

Tier 2 Intervention: Development and Research

THE I IN RTI: EFFECTIVE INTERVENTIONS FOR LANGUAGE AND EARLY LITERACY

TIER 2 CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT Howard Goldstein, PhD Research Director, Schoenbaum Family Center The Ohio State University

Tier 2 R & D Team at Ohio State

 Howard Goldstein  Robyn Ziolkowski  Sean Noe  Rhonda Tabbah  Beth Spencer  Naomi Schneider

Preliminary Studies for Tier 2 curriculum development

Ziolkowski, R. A., & Goldstein, H. (2008). Effects of an embedded phonological awareness intervention during repeated book reading on preschool children with language delays. Journal of Early Intervention, 31, 67-90.

Why teach PA?

 Accelerates reading & writing development of all students

  Best known predictor of future reading ability  Unless taught directly, PA skills are not

mastered by ~25% of middle-class 1st graders (many more from less literacy-rich environments)

EFFECTS OF INTERACTIVE BOOKS ON PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS SKILLS IN PRE-KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN FROM LOW-INCOME ENVIRONMENTS

Amy Hempstead

Circles = blending

Squares = segmenting

Intensity of Instruction

  Pros   Alignment with curriculum   Ensures more opportunities for learning

  Cons   More of the same not necessarily effective   Focus of intervention may be too diffuse   Group size and duration is not directly related to

opportunities to respond (OTR)

  The Child’s Perspective   Effectively teaching the proper skills with sufficient OTR

Three Tiers??

  Lots of instructional variations can invoke lots of potential tiers   Changing motivational characteristics   Creating branch steps   What happens when a child is at different levels in

different domains?   Might effective Tier 2 interventions be adopted in Tier 1?

Tier 2 Curriculum Issues

  Is it realistic to expect teachers to deliver multiple tiers of instruction?

  Try to align with multiple curricula   How might one efficiently package curricular areas?

Skill Focused Listening Center Activities: Tier 2

•   Skill Focused Activities are designed to be independent of teacher instruction. Monitoring can be done by a paraprofessional.

•   Supplemental, rather than substitute for Tier 1 curriculum in 4 major domains –   Phonological Awareness and Alphabet Knowledge –   Vocabulary and Comprehension

•   Follow a general, developmental progression based on previous evaluation of curricular skill implementation timelines. –   For example, in the PA area, Storybook Script 1 focuses on

“Recognizing rhyming words,” whereas Storybook Script 9 focuses on “Identification and production of first sounds in words.”

Tier 1: Review of 8 Curricula

  DLM Early Childhood Express   Scott Foresman Reading Street   Harcourt Storytown   SRA Imagine It   Creative Curriculum   Opening the World of Learning (OWL)   Building Language for Literacy (BLL)

 Phase 1 (BLL-1) is tailored to children ages 3 and 4.  Phase 2 (BLL-2) is designed for 4- and 5-year-olds and is

intended as supplementary material for children who have mastered the skills in Phase 1.

Phonological Awareness

  Phonological awareness refers to the awareness and sensitivity to the sounds of spoken language.

  Skills taught to foster the development of phonological awareness include   Discriminate units of speech   recognize, identify, and produce rhymes   hear and identify individual syllables in words; hear and identify

initial sounds of words   hear and identify ending sounds of words   hear and identify sounds within words   blend sounds   segment sounds   isolate sounds.

PA/AK Scope and Sequence

Week Forest Friends  Skill 

1  Pablo's Prickly Problem  Recognize rhyme words  Thumb Up/Thumb Down 

2  Suki's Slumber Surprize  IdenBficaBon of Rhyme  Choice of Two Supported 

3  Fae's Smelly SituaBon  IdenBficaBon of Rhyme  Choice of Two  

4  Fae's Nose Knows the Way IdenBficaBon/ProducBon of Rhyme  Choice of Three   

5  Snowday for Fae  Recognize IniBal Sounds  Thumb Up/Thumb Down /m//p/ 

6 Bobby's EmBEARassing moment  IdenBficaBon of IniBal Sounds 

Choice of Two Sounds Only /k//d/  

7  Suki's Selfish Saturday  IdenBficaBon of IniBal Sounds Choice of Two Sounds/ Supported Alphabet/f//w/? 

8  Pablo's Map MaVers IdenBficaBon/ProducBon of IniBal Sound 

Choice of Two Sounds/ Supported Alphabet /s//h/? 

9  Where is Bobby Bear?  IdenBficaBon/ProducBon of IniBalSound 

Choice of Two Sounds/ Supported Alphabet/b//t/ 

2nd and 3rd Nine Weeks

Jungle Friends  Ocean Friends 10 Recognize Ending Sounds  19 Segment Compound Words Supported 

11 IdenBficaBon of Ending Sounds  20 Segment Compound Words 

12 IdenBficaBon of Ending Sounds  21 Segment Onset Rime 

13 IdenBficaBon/ProducBon of End Sound  22 Segment Onset Rime 

14 Blending Compound Words Supporteed  23 Segment Onset Rime 

15 Blending Compound Words   24 I‐F Blend with Alphabet 

16 Blending Onset Rime   25 I‐F Blend with Alphabet 

17 Blending Onset Rime  26 IMF Blend with Alphabet 

18 Blending Onset Rime  27 IMF Blend with Alphabet 

Print Awareness

  Print awareness is the understanding of print in everyday surroundings.

  It is the understanding that reading and writing are ways to obtain information and knowledge, generate and communicate thoughts and ideas, and solve problems.

  Examples of skills taught for the development of print awareness skills include   the ability to distinguish words from pictures   understanding that books are handled in certain ways; knowledge

that a book has multiple parts (i.e., front, back, author, and illustrator)

  knowledge of the directionality of print   knowledge of print conventions

Alphabet Knowledge

  Alphabet knowledge is the knowledge of the letters of the alphabet and recognition of upper and lower case letter symbols in print.

  Skills that encompass alphabet knowledge include:   Naming the letters of the alphabet   Recognizing and identifying letters in print   Associating the name of a letter with its shape   Associating letters with corresponding phonemes or

sounds   Recognizing upper and lower case letters.

How is the Tier 2 Intervention Delivered?

•   Activities are designed to be administered in “listening centers” for which scripts are pre-recorded onto compact discs.

•   Children listen using headphones and respond to the embedded interactive activities. Familiar characters (e.g., Sally the Sound Seal, Luke the Letter Lion) serve as the teaching “guide.”

•   Pre-recorded scripts contain visual and auditory cues to increase children’s ability to complete the listening center each day with minimal adult assistance.

Training Book

  Introduction to the Listening Center   Children train to mastery criterion on:

  Not opening book until instructed   Turning pages only when instructed   Following directions/receiving training specific to each

intervention type  Pointing  Thumb up/Thumb Down   Lift the Flap  Pull the Tab  Turn the Wheel

Print Awareness

  Do you have your book? Make sure it is closed. Look at the front cover of the book. Now…Do not open it until I tell you to….. Your book should have a picture of Pablo Porcupine on the cover. Make sure Pablo Porcupine is not upside down. Remember do not open the book yet….Look at the top of the book. Do you see the words? This is the title or the name of the book. Do you see the finger with bump on it? touch the bump under the first word. Follow the arrow under the words as we read the title together, it says …. Pablo’s Prickly Problem.

  Chime* turn the page

Vocabulary

  Curriculum review for the vocabulary domain consisted of lists of novel words and not so novel words introduced throughout the curricula.

  Potential Word bank with variety of norms   Avoid words that are:

  Too advanced   Too easy (Beck & McKeown’s Tier 1 words)   Too difficult to represent concretely or to define

Comprehension

 Comprehension involves knowing the meanings of words, forming conceptual relationships, understanding factual or literal content, and making inferences (Joseph, 2006).

  In several curricula, comprehension skills were presented under “Oral Language,” because children were required to respond orally to questions asked about stories.

Comprehension

  Answering questions related to the story   Levels of questions

  Answering simple recall questions related to the story (e.g., Who was surprised in the story?)

  Answering inferential questions related to the story (e.g., Why was Suki surprised?)

  Answering questions that require a prediction or a connection to own life (e.g., When was a time when you felt embarrassed?)

Vocabulary & Comprehension Content

Vocabulary Pablo's Prickly Problem 

Suki's Slumber Surprise 

Fae's Smelly Situa6on 

Bobby's EmBEARassing Moment 

Basic Concepts  In front, behind  first, next, last   first, second, third  tall, short 

Target Words  porcupine, protect surprise, slumber  idea, inhale embarrassed, accident 

Comprehension Qs 

Level I 

Level II 

Did Pablo look the same as the other animals? 

Who was surprised in the story? 

Who smelled sBnky in the story? 

Who was embarrassed in the story?  

Level III 

Why was Suki surprised in the story? 

Why was Fae Fox so smelly in the story? 

Why was Bobby embarrassed in the story?   

Level IV 

How did Pablo feel at the end of the story? 

How is learning maximized?

  Scripts require active participation and responding by modeling answers, asking questions, and providing time for spoken, pointing, and manipulative responses.

  Feedback is provided within context of the recorded scripts so children can monitor whether they are responding correctly

  Multiple embedded opportunities to respond –   Each script has 5-6 activities, including initial instruction, 3-4

interruptions, and review; ~ 40 embedded opportunities to respond

–   Script is repeated 3X per week

  Demands on teachers’ instructional time are minimized and treatment fidelity is high

How do we know T2 is effective?

  We routinely see students become more proficient with their responses as the week progresses.

  Mastery monitoring probe - designed to track progress of the skills being taught that week.

Progress Over Time

Mastery Monitoring probe example

Anticipated problems

  Ripped intervention pages – possible solution   Child on the wrong page   Fine motor issues

What happens if……..?

  Not all SFCAs will lend themselves to this degree of independent interaction.

  In those cases, we would have the paraprofessional leading an activity in which we have added instructional scripts.

  Expect further development over the next few years as children help us refine timing, density of instruction, word choices, teaching techniques, the language of instruction, etc.

We Expect to Learn….

That embedding supplemental instruction within a book reading activity enables most children to learn skills needed to progress within the Tier 1 curriculum.

Questions we expect to answer:   What are the language and literacy profiles of children for

whom T2 is most effective?   For what areas (PA, Alphabet/Print, Vocabulary,

Comprehension) are T2 curriculum most and least effective?   Do we need to increase/decrease the opportunities to

respond in T2 to be effective?   Can we combine skill sets and still maintain high levels of

learning?

Tier 3 Intervention: Development and Research

Tier 3 Intervention Development

 What do we know from the research?   Lowest performing children benefit the most from

language and early literacy intervention that is:  Focused on a few priority skills  More explicit  More comprehensive  More systematic

e.g., Biemiller & Slonim, 2001; Foorman & Torgesen, 2001; Justice & Vukelich; National Reading Panel, 2000; Snow et al., 1988; Stahl, 2003

Tier 3 Intervention

•   Children served: –   Children who display significant delay in language and

early literacy compared to peers –   Children who are not making adequate progress in T2

•   Activities: –   Teacher-led –   Increase in intensity of instruction –   More restricted focus on prerequisite and high-priority

skills

Tier 3 BRIEF Activities

 Brief, reading-related activities that are

intense, engaging, and focused   Brief 5 - 20 minute small-group activities   Reading-related activities in the domains of:

  phonological awareness  alphabet knowledge  vocabulary and oral language  comprehension

Intervention Development

  Focus on the essential elements/critical skills   Teach skills in optimum sequence   Teach in ways that are fun, stimulating,

engaging   Provide variations and scaffolds to support

diverse learning needs   Provide supplemental activities/materials to

support what is taught   Tier 1 extensions   Writing activities

Guiding Principles

  Development guided by research and principles of instructional design

  Activities have to be appropriate for preschool children   Activities have to be feasible for EC personnel in EC

settings   Teaching of skills should be integrated in meaningful

ways   that optimally leads to meaningful goal   embedded in and linked to meaningful activities (e.g.,

reading)   Rationale and underlying principles needs to be explicit

in the materials (for teachers)

Focus: What to Teach

 What is taught and how?  What does research tell us?

Summary of Literature: PA and AK

  Focus on phonemes, specifically on initial sounds:   Instructional methods that introduce a variety of

phonological units, or the wrong phonological units, are much less successful than methods that focus on phonemes (NRP, 2000).

  PA at the phoneme level is more strongly related to later reading success than are syllable or rhyme awareness (e.g., Muter, Hulme, Snowling, & Taylor, 1997).

Early Literacy Sequence of Skills

  Introduce /m/ sound: see it , hear it, feel it   Contextualize: say words that begin with /m/

  Discriminate /m/ from other sounds in isolation   Contextualize: say words that begin with /m/

  Blend 1-syllable words: initial /m/ - rime   Select picture from 2; from 3   Name word

Early Literacy Sequence of Skills

  Blend 1-syllable 3-phoneme words   Select picture from 2; from 3   Name word

  Discriminate words with initial /m/   Introduce letter “Mm”

  Include letters   PA training programs that have included letter

knowledge training tend to produce larger gains than phonological awareness training alone (e.g., Ball & Blachman, 1988; Bradley & Bryant, 1985).

  Teaching letter knowledge and pa together may help facilitate their mutual development (Burgess & Lonigan, 1998; Hatcher, 1994).

Summary of Literature: PA and AK

  Approaching reading instruction with Alphabetic principle (i.e., awareness that words are made up of sounds and some understanding of the relationship between letters and sounds) helps children engage in the “self-teaching” process for reading (e.g., Share, 1995; Share & Stanovich, 1995)

  PA requires more specific teaching in at-risk children (Gillon, 2000).

  Effectiveness of linguistic phonics approach (McGuinnes, 2005)

Summary of Literature: PA and AK

  What is our overarching Goal?   Children will be ready to learn to read

  What is our Early Literacy Goal?   Children will understand the alphabetic principle and

be able to apply their understanding in age-appropriate book- and print-related activities

  Children will enjoy reading and reading activities and want to learn to read

Goal: Tier 3 Early Literacy Activities

  Content: Critical skills to reach the goal (Byrne, 1998):   Children need to be familiar with the letters of the

alphabet, (i.e., their names, function)   Children need a minimal level of phonological

segmentation skill (recognize/produce initial sounds)   Children need to connect emerging speech sound

sensitivity with experience of print

Content: Tier 3 AK Activities

How to Teach: Considerations

  What is the goal?   What are the critical skills needed to achieve the

goal?   What is the most effective sequence for teaching the

skills?   How are the skills integrated?   What are the meaningful contexts for applying the

skills?

  Sequence:   Start with phonemes   Use a linguistic phonics approach: from sounds to letters   Carefully sequence and integrate the skills   Provide branching up and down:

 extra teaching/practice activities for children not ready to move on

 expansions/enhancements for children who get it quickly

Sequence: Tier 3 AK Activities

Letter/Sound Sequence m – t – f – o – p – a – d - n

  sounds that are easy for preschool children to produce

  sounds that are maximally different   sounds that are represented by the same letter in

English and Spanish   sounds that are frequently used in print (at the

beginning of common words)   sounds that are represented by letters learned

early

Context: Tier 3 AK Activities

  Context:   Reading is the meaningful context for the activities. The

only reason pa is important is because it is necessary for learning to read in an alphabetic language.  alphabet/book component   include printed words on picture cards

Tier 3 Activity Format

  Introduce activity   Alphabet practice   Review previous skill/task   Introduce new skill   Practice new skill   Contextualize new skill   Review   Close

Alphabet Practice

  Name letters of alphabet

  “This is the alphabet. It is made up of different letters. We use letters to read and write. Let’s say the names of the letters of the alphabet.”

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz

Sample Activity Sequence   Explicit teaching: (I do, you do, we do)

  Introduce /m/   “When we talk, we say words. The words that we say are

made up of different sounds. One of the sounds in the words we say is the sound /m/. Listen and say these words with me. me, mouse, mom, my” (emphasize /m/)

  “Watch and listen. When I say /m/, I put my lips together like this and I hum, like this. You try it. “ (Have children take turns looking in mirror as they say /m/. Look at each other. Have children repeat 1 syllable words that begin with /m/ looking in mirror.

 Name pictures that start with /m/

Sample /m/ pictures and words

moose mouse milk

Sample Activity Sequence Close: Monkeys on the bed

/m/ songs/poems

  Five Little Monkeys   Monkeys in a Tree   We Think Mice are Nice   Mice   Great Big Moose Song

/m/ books   Ten Furry Monsters, Stephanie

Calmenson & Maxie Chambliss

  Ten Monsters in Bed, Rozanne Lanczak Williams

  My Monster Mama Loves Me So, Laura Leuck andMark Buehner

  Happy Birthday Moon, Frank Asch   Moon Game, Frank Asch

  Moon Cake, Frank Asch   The Moon Shines Down, Margaret

Wise Brown

  The Useful Moose, Fiona Robinson   Looking for a Moose, Phyllis Root and

Randy Cecil

  One Moose, Twenty Mice, Clare Beaton

  I Met a Moose in Maine One Day, Ed Shankman

  Mooses Come Walking, Arlo Guthrie

  Mucky Moose, Jonathon Allen

  Moose and Mouse, Colin West

  Melinda, a Mostly Magnificent Moose, Daniel Burch Fiddler

  Adventures of Maynard a Maine Moose, Marybeth Baker

  Morris the Moose (I Can Read Book 1), Bernard Wiseman

  Morris Tells Boris Mother Moose Stories and Rhymes, Bernard Wiseman

Sample Activity: Discriminate /m/ words

Sample BRIEF Activity

Intervention: Language (Vocabulary, Oral Language, Comprehension)

  Goals:   Understand and use new words   Understand and use age-appropriate morphology   Understand and use age-appropriate syntax   Understand and correctly respond to questions about

stories

Storybook Repeated Reading

  1 book, 4 days   Day 1 introduce vocabulary words, comprehension   Day 2 extended vocabulary/oral language   Day 3 extended vocabulary/oral language   Day 4 retell

If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.

From the article Challenging the Rules from the book A Whack on the Side of the Head by Roger von Oech.

“Whenyouknowwhatworksand

whatdoesn'twork,domoreofwhatworksandstopdoingwhatdoesn'twork!”

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Join the network at www.crtiec.org