Every year, thousands of students are diagnosed with learning disabilities. For these students, it isn’t easy to study, learn and retain information. In fact, they often struggle drastically with their school work if their disability is not picked up on from an early age. 

For this reason, experts have coined and developed the term ‘Response To Intervention.’ In this article, we will be discussing exactly what this means and why it is so important. More so, we will mention a few ways teachers can use this approach to benefit students with learning disabilities. 

What Is Response To Intervention (RTI)?

In short, Response To Intervention (RTI) is an approach in which teachers screen, track and monitor students who have learning disabilities. More so, this includes providing optimal support and guidance to these students from very early on – this is all done to improve their learning and meet their academic needs. 

Before this approach was used, many students who had these disabilities could not keep up with their classmates. This can have a massive effect on their confidence and future. For this reason, teachers had to do something to provide them with a better opportunity. 

Screening

The first thing that teachers need to do to provide better opportunities to students who struggle with learning disabilities is to identify students with these troubles. 

More so, they must monitor these students from very early on – this is done to ensure that the students have a good understanding of basic skills, such as producing the different sounds. 

Teaching

When teachers know exactly which students have learning disabilities, they can alter their teaching methods for these particular students. Often, one of the biggest challenges that these students face is learning to read. 

For this reason, educators should be very supportive when developing the reading skills of these students. The RTI approach discusses the importance of intervention – in other words, teachers should also be monitoring students and intervene when they notice a mistake. 

On top of this, it is recommended that teachers use what is known as progress monitoring. This involves giving the students small tests to track the progress made during lessons. If little progress is made, the teacher will need to change up their teaching methods accordingly. 

Concluding Thoughts

Teaching students who struggle with learning disabilities is a significant challenge for educators. For optimal success, they should use the RTI approach – this involves screening and monitoring students who have these disabilities. More so, these disabilities must be identified from an early age.