RtI,MTSS,SBLT,ESE....OMG! - Let's Talk with Whitneyslp

Hi Peeps!

Happy Speech & Hearing Month! I’m loving all the extra-special “speechie” activities going on this month in celebration of the profession we all love. So I was extra excited when Jen from Speech Language Literacy Lab put together a blog hop about RtI!

Communication between Clinic and School SLPs

Last June I transitioned from years in the school system into an inpatient/outpatient hospital back in my home town. As you can imagine, there are some MAJOR differences in the schools and hospitals. However, I’m so thankful for my background as an SLP in the schools with my current job. It helps me communicate with my patients’ SLPs in the schools. Many of them are going through RtI now. Others I am referring to the county RtI team as 3 year olds, who are getting ready to start in the public school system. I’m so thankful of my background knowledge with schools, IEPs, and RtI. It has enabled me to have better communication with the school therapists. It also helps me walk the parents through the process on our end as well.

The following post was written a few years back when I was working in the schools…and even though I’m now in the hospital, most of it still applies! I still use the same materials to work with my kiddos each week! Enjoy

The Acronym Explanations:

How many of you are dealing with RtI (Response to Intervention) as part of your jobs? If you haven’t heard, RtI is now being referred to as MTSS (Multi-Tiered Support System). Because, you know, once we learn an acronym, the natural thing to do is change it! Believe it or not, SBLT is not a tasty sandwich! SBLT stands for School-Based Leadership Team, which is just what we call my school team that gets together to discuss school data and those struggling students requiring help from the intervention (RtI/MTSS) team. I’m sure your school has a different name for this team.

RtI Workgroup:

Anyway, it looks like RtI/MTSS is here to stay and is becoming a large part of our SLP responsibilities. So I thought I’d do a post on information on RtI/MTSS from my point of view! I realize that every state, every county, and many times every school is different in how they go about RtI. This has been part of the problem in implementing it. In my particular county, they have realized the inconsistency and are working to develop a more consistent protocol. A small group of SLPs, myself included, developed an RtI Workgroup. We meet once a month or so to work on a system for SLPs to help implement RtI. Through our research, we learned that many teachers did not understand the role of the SLP. If they don’t know what we do, they don’t request our help. Because of this, we developed a PowerPoint to share during a staff meeting to explain what we do and how we can help.

Support for Classroom Teachers:

We also discovered that classroom teachers are asked to implement interventions for students. Many of these are language-based interventions, but they don’t know where to begin. They know their student has delays, but they aren’t sure what intervention(s) to put in place. This is where the SLP comes in!

In my particular school, I am part of the School-Based Leadership Team where we discuss struggling students and their needs. We discuss when to begin the RtI process and if there is a need for the SLP to be involved. Before the SLPs got involved in the SBLT, we would all of a sudden receive consent to evaluate a student that we had never heard of before. Even worse, we would hear about a student who was in Tier 3 of RtI and was not making any progress. It was then that we decided that the SLPs might could (and should) help.

Now, when a struggling student is brought before the SBLT, we make sure to rule out any language difficulties when we first initiate RtI. If there are no language concerns, we back out of that case. If there are language concerns, we address these in the interventions and make suggestions for possible interventions to use. Most of all, we make sure to let the teachers know that we are here to help them if they need help. We don’t actually implement the interventions ourselves, but we show them where to turn.

Acknowledgments:

Now might be a good time to make a couple of acknowledgements. First, I acknowledge that being involved with these kids who are not “technically” on our caseloads means more work for the SLP. However, what it comes down to is that it is best for the kids.

Second, I acknowledge that there are some SLPs out there who are doing a whole lot more than simply suggesting language-based interventions. In GA where I’m from, the SLPs are actually seeing the kids in RtI and implementing their interventions along with kids on their caseloads. Thus, they are seeing the kids as if they are on their caseloads, but not being allowed to count them in their numbers. I am also sure that there are other SLPs out there who are doing other things that are not necessarily “in their job descriptions.” However, this is what we do. SLPs wear many hats, and we do what is best for our kids. We may not be able to do everything, but we do everything we can. Whatever your role in RtI may be, I encourage you to get involved in helping suggest language-based interventions for your classroom teachers.

Another very important part of what our RtI Workgroup is working on is a book of interventions and progress monitoring tools to give our SLPs for the different strands of language. This way, when a student is struggling with, say, syntax, they can flip to the syntax section and have at their fingertips an array of interventions and progress monitoring templates to give to the teachers. It is crucial that the classroom teachers know we are there to be team players and assist them when we can.

Suggested Materials:

In conclusion, I wanted to suggest a few interventions we have been using with students going though RtI/MTSS:

1. Story Grammar Marker by Mindwing Concepts, Inc. (See my previous blog posts on my love for SGM!)
2. The Bridge of Vocabulary, by Judy Montgomery
3. RtI In Action, by Roth, Paul, Adamczyk, and Dougherty
4. FCRR-Florida Center for Reading Research
5. Language Lab, by Wiechmann, Rudebusch, & Kuhles and sold by Super Duper Publications.

*Amazon affiliate links are included below for your convenience!*

I am very interested in hearing from you on this issue. How are you involved with the RtI/MTSS process in your school? What questions do you have about RtI/MTSS? Do you have any interventions that you have found have really worked?