Background: What are the origins of Recognition & Response?
Recognition & Response is based on an approach called Response to Intervention (RTI) designed for school-age children who are at risk for learning disabilities. RTI emphasizes early intervening rather than waiting until children fail. Teachers use early and intensive interventions in the general education classroom before they refer children with learning difficulties for further assessment and special education services. A major premise of RTI is that early intervening can prevent academic problems for many students and determine which students actually have learning disabilities versus those whose underachievement can be attributed to other factors, such as inadequate instruction. Because RTI includes an emphasis on the quality of the general education curriculum, this approach offers potential benefits to every student and not just to those who experience some type of learning problem. The key components of RTI (and Recognition & Response) are systematic screening and progress monitoring, the use of multiple tiers of increasingly intense interventions, and a problem-solving process to aid in decision-making. In both approaches (RTI and Recognition & Response), there is an emphasis on using interventions that have been found to be effective through scientific research and on linking assessment results to interventions that are specifically tailored to address individual needs.
