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Problem-Solving in Multi-Tiered Systems of Support

Problem-Solving in Multi-Tiered Systems of Support

How Cognitive Skills Fit In

Betsy Hill

September, 2018

Which Figure Best Reflects Your Experience?

Academic

Problems

Academic

Problems

Interrelated Academic and

Behavior Problems

Behavior

ProblemsBehavior

Problems

Interrelated Academic and

Behavior Problems

Figure A Figure B

Agenda

• Academics and Behavior within MTSS

• Cognitive Skills

• Problem Solving at the Core of MTSS

• Defining the Problem

Comparison of Components

• Academic

assessments and

interventions

• Use of published

curricula selected by

school or district

• Direct assessment

of skills

• Periodic benchmark

assessment

• Focus on grade-level

learning

• Described in IDEA

as approach to

SPED eligibility

Academic RTI

• Social behavior

assessments and

interventions

• Use of free materials

adapted to school context

• Direct assessment of

behavior

• Continuous assessment

• Focus on schoolwide

learning

• Described in IDEA as

schoolwide prevention,

individual intervention

PBIS

• Scientifically based

interventions

• Tiered continuum of

supports

• Regular screening for

early intervention

• Problem-solving model

with data-based

decision

• Focus on learning

• Continuous school

improvement

Adapted from

Integrated Multi-Tiered

Systems of Support,

McIntosh & Goodman

Relationship Between Academic Skills and Behavior

1. Behavior challenges reduce access to instruction.

2. Underlying attention deficits cause challenges in both areas.

3. Early academic challenges increase social rejection.

4. Inadequate response to academic interventions leads to behavior challenges.

Cole and Krehbiel 1984

Core Executive FunctionsWorking Memory, Inhibitory Control,

Cognitive Flexibility

Foundational Cognitive SkillsAttention (Sustained, Selective, Flexible), Visual Processing (Visual Discrimination, Visual

Span, Visual Form Consistency, Visualization), Auditory Processing , Sensory Integration

(Processing Speed, Timing and Rhythm, Visual-Auditory Integration, Simultaneous and

Sequential Processing), Memory (Immediate Short-Term, Short-Term, Long-Term)

Higher Order Executive FunctionsReasoning, Problem-Solving, Planning,

Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Creativity, Communication

Cognitive Skills: The Foundation for Learning

Academic Performance

Educational Attainment

Workplace

Performance

Lifetime Income

Health Outcomes

Legal & Safety

English Language Arts

Listening, Speaking, Reading,

Writing, Visual

Representation

STEM

Science, Technology,

Engineering, Math

SEL

Self Awareness/Management

Social Awareness/

Relationships / Decisions

Executive Functions CrossoverSkill What it is Academic Example Social/Emotional Example

Working

Memory

The ability to hold

information in our mind

while we think about it.

Holding multiple aspects of a

problem in mind and keeping

track of where we are in a multi-

step solution.

Holding someone else’s point of

view in mind, comparing and

contrasting it to other points of

view, considering alternative ways

to respond.

Inhibitory

Control

The ability to suppress a

thought or idea, to refrain

from doing something we

otherwise would.

Not leaping to the first possible

solution but questioning

assumptions and considering

other alternatives.

Not blowing out the candles on

someone else’s birthday cake. Not

blurting out “That’s stupid,” when

you disagree. Also, deferring

gratification (longer term).

Cognitive

Flexibility

The ability to change our

mindset when the rules

of the world around us

change.

When our original approach to a

problem doesn’t work, finding

other approaches. Looking at

problems from different points of

view and being able to change

direction on the basis of new

information.

Looking at personal experiences

from different points of view and

being able to change direction on

the basis of new information.

Reading Development Factors

https://mybrainware.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Digital-Promise-Personalized-

Reading-Success.pdf

Cognitive Processes Associated with Reading

Decoding

Sustained Attention, Visual Discrimination,

Sequential Processing,

Auditory Discrimination

Fluency

Visual Span, Flexible

Attention, Processing

Speed

Comprehension

Planning, Visualization,

Working Memory

http://www.edcircuit.com/cognitive-skills-reading/

Cognitive Processes Associated with Math

Spatial Representations

Spatial Memory,

Visualization, Directionality

Counting and Operations

Working Memory,

Sequential Processing,

Selective Attention

Logical Problem-Solving

Planning, Working Memory,

Reasoning

http://www.edcircuit.com/cognitive-skills-math/

Student 1

Student 2

Student 3

Student 4

Student 5

Student 6

Student 7

Student 8

Student 9

Student 10

Student 1

Student 2

Student 3

Student 4

Student 5

Student 6

Student 7

Student 8

Student 9

Student 10

Student 2

Comparison of Components

• Academic

assessments and

interventions

• Use of published

curricula selected by

school or district

• Direct assessment

of skills

• Periodic benchmark

assessment

• Focus on grade-level

learning

• Described in IDEA

as approach to

SPED eligibility

Academic RTI

• Social behavior

assessments and

interventions

• Use of free materials

adapted to school context

• Direct assessment of

behavior

• Continuous assessment

• Focus on schoolwide

learning

• Described in IDEA as

schoolwide prevention,

individual intervention

PBIS

• Scientifically based

interventions

• Tiered continuum of

supports

• Regular screening for

early intervention

• Problem-solving model

with data-based

decision

• Focus on learning

• Continuous school

improvement

Adapted from

Integrated Multi-Tiered

Systems of Support,

McIntosh & Goodman

So What’s the Problem?

1. Take the Time / Find the Real Problem

2. Get Different Perspectives

3. Look for What’s Not There

4. Don’t Dress a Solution Up as a Problem

5. Well-Defined Solutions Have Alternatives

Take the Time / Find the Real Problem

“Ginny”

• Reports of behavior issues in class have been increasing –interrupting, distracting others, moving out of the teacher’s sight, etc.

• Ginny’s DIBELS’s scores have not increased in the last two months.

Are academic struggles causing behavior problems or vice versa?

Is the Root Problem Academic or Behavior?

Behavior

Problems

Academic

Problems

Interrelated Academic and

Behavior Problems

What Would Have to Be True?

• If behavior is the cause?

• If academics are the cause?

More Information

• Ginny’s unwanted behaviors occur most commonly during Silent Sustained Reading

• Ginny’s low scores on DIBELS are primarily due to substituting words with the same initial sound, e.g, “green” for “great”).

Get Different Perspectives

24

Poor Second Grade End-of-Year Reading Test Scores• At Central Elementary School in Anywhere, USA, reading

scores had been consistently below grade level for several years.

• This year, a new intervention was introduced that, based on available evidence, was expected to help improve overall scores and the percentage of students reading at grade level.

• The intervention was used in 2nd through 5th Grades.

• On the end-of-year reading benchmark, students in 3rd through 5th Grades achieved the expected gains. Students in 2nd Grade did not. In fact, many of them performed worse than at the beginning of the year.

Would you continue the intervention next year in 2nd Grade?

• Does the intervention not work for 2nd graders?

• Was there something else going on?

Get Different Perspectives

• The principal got a group of teachers together with the testing administrator and asked them for their perspectives.

• They looked at the list of students whose performance declined between the fall and spring administrations of DIBELS. Their teacher said they were doing well with the reading in class.

• The testing administrator looked at her records. She saw that the fall and spring DIBELS assessments were administered by two different people – the 2nd Grade Teacher in the fall, and a stranger in the spring.

• “Those students would have been too uncomfortable reading aloud to a stranger to do well on that test.”

Look for What’s Not There

28

Response to Cognitive Intervention

1315

28

24

10 9

2

16 15

20 21

-1

0

11

-6

6

-11

2

11

22

25

-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Percentile Point Change from Pre-Test to Post-Test

BrainWare SAFARI Cognitive Training Intervention

School 1 School 2

Fidelity of Implementing the Intervention

35

110

19

80

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Sessions Levels

Average Sessions and Levels Completed

School 1 School 2

Target

Sessions

Don’t Dress a Solution Up as a Problem

Well-Defined Problems Have Alternative Solutions

Consider this Problem Statement

We need more math textbooks for the third grade.

What is the obvious solution?

What alternatives come to mind?

Consider this Problem Statement

The third grade students performed inconsistently on the most recent math test. Some students did not have math textbooks to use when the class covered some of the concepts covered on the test.

What alternative solutions come to mind?

Core Executive FunctionsWorking Memory, Inhibitory Control,

Cognitive Flexibility

Foundational Cognitive SkillsAttention (Sustained, Selective, Flexible), Visual Processing (Visual Discrimination, Visual

Span, Visual Form Consistency, Visualization), Auditory Processing , Sensory Integration

(Processing Speed, Timing and Rhythm, Visual-Auditory Integration, Simultaneous and

Sequential Processing), Memory (Immediate Short-Term, Short-Term, Long-Term)

Higher Order Executive FunctionsReasoning, Problem-Solving, Planning,

Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Creativity, Communication

Cognitive Skills: The Foundation for Learning

Academic Performance

Educational Attainment

Workplace

Performance

Lifetime Income

Health Outcomes

Legal & Safety

English Language Arts

Listening, Speaking, Reading,

Writing, Visual

Representation

STEM

Science, Technology,

Engineering, Math

SEL

Self Awareness/Management

Social Awareness/

Relationships / Decisions

Comparison of Components

• Academic

assessments and

interventions

• Use of published

curricula selected by

school or district

• Direct assessment

of skills

• Periodic benchmark

assessment

• Focus on grade-level

learning

• Described in IDEA

as approach to

SPED eligibility

Academic RTI

• Social behavior

assessments and

interventions

• Use of free materials

adapted to school context

• Direct assessment of

behavior

• Continuous assessment

• Focus on schoolwide

learning

• Described in IDEA as

schoolwide prevention,

individual intervention

PBIS

• Scientifically based

interventions

• Tiered continuum of

supports

• Regular screening for

early intervention

• Problem-solving model

with data-based

decision

• Focus on learning

• Continuous school

improvement

Adapted from

Integrated Multi-Tiered

Systems of Support,

McIntosh & Goodman

So What’s the Problem?

1. Take the Time / Find the Real Problem

2. Get Different Perspectives

3. Look for What’s Not There

4. Don’t Dress a Solution Up as a Problem

5. Well-Defined Solutions Have Alternatives

Questions?

Let’s stay

connected

Betsy Hill

bhill@mybrainware.com

773-250-6467

www.linkedin.com/in/betsyhill

www.MyBrainWare.com

www.facebook.com/BrainWareLearning/