Helping Children with Emotional Difficulties

Lee R Pearce

doi:10.35608/ruraled.v30i2.452

Abstract

This article describes a Response to Intervention (RTI) model of service delivery implemented within a rural elementary school for students in kindergarten through fifth grade experiencing significant emotional and behavioral difficulties. A multi-tiered model is presented that includes school wide interventions in Tier 1, as well as a six separate interventions applied within Tier 2 and Tier 3. These included applied behavioral analysis, social skills training, counseling, differentiated instruction, cognitive behavioral interventions and parent involvement designed to assist identified students with improving prosocial skills. Nine children were treated within this program model over a two year period, resulting in two students being placed in special education under the category of emotional disturbance by the project’s termination. Positive and negative aspects of the project’s implementation are reviewed, along with directions for future research.

Highlights

This article describes a Response to Intervention (RTI) model of service delivery implemented within a rural elementary school for students in kindergarten through fifth grade experiencing significant emotional and behavioral difficulties
While the majority of research to date has involved the application of RTI models to the treatment and identification of learning disabilities (Fletcher, Francis, Morris & Lyon, 2005; Kavale, Holdnack & Mostert, 2005; Marston, 2005), others have indicated the appropriateness of this process to the treatment of behavioral and emotional challenges many students face (Batsche, Elliot, Graden, Grimes, Kavaleski, Prasse, et al, 2005; Reschly, 2006; Gresham, 2005)
Rural schools tended to deal with isolated subgroups rather than tackling the more difficult system challenges that may result in school failure

Summary

Introduction

This article describes a Response to Intervention (RTI) model of service delivery implemented within a rural elementary school for students in kindergarten through fifth grade experiencing significant emotional and behavioral difficulties. While the majority of research to date has involved the application of RTI models to the treatment and identification of learning disabilities (Fletcher, Francis, Morris & Lyon, 2005; Kavale, Holdnack & Mostert, 2005; Marston, 2005), others have indicated the appropriateness of this process to the treatment of behavioral and emotional challenges many students face (Batsche, Elliot, Graden, Grimes, Kavaleski, Prasse, et al, 2005; Reschly, 2006; Gresham, 2005) This program evaluation describes the implementation of a RTI model, within the framework of positive behavioral supports, in helping children in kindergarten through fifth grade who experience challenging behavior that adversely affects their educational performance.

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Conclusion