Response to Intervention

According to "A Child’s Response to Intervention Requires a Responsive Teacher of Reading" by Mary Lose (2008) that children who struggle to read show signs of the difficulties after only one year in school. RTI assessments should cover all aspects related to literacy. RTI must show steady progress over time or it has failed. RTI is supposed to use the most expert teacher with the most struggling child. For RTI to be successful it requires a skilled, responsive teacher.

This semester I saw multiple RTI interventions with different skill levels. The children in the lowest of the low category thrived in an environment that was more personal. However, all of the other groups were just given books to practice reading or time to play a reading game on a computer. I do not think that RTI is really helping them to become better readers.

If RTI is only being successful in the lowest of the low, is it still worthwhile? I know that this is mostly the purpose of RTI which is great, but at the same time I do not think we should be wasting the time of the children that are not the lowest of the low.