Supporting Students with or at Risk of Emotional Disturbance within the Response to Intervention Model: A Systematic Review

Abstract

The response to intervention (RtI) model is a pre-referral model adopted by schools in the United States to prevent academic failure and enhance students’ academic outcomes. Recent research in the educational field suggests that integrating behavioral components into this model can support students with or at risk of emotional disturbance (ED). This study provides a systematic review of studies published between January 2004 and April 2020 that employ experimental research designs to examine the implementation of RtI to support students with or at risk of ED. A total of seven studies were identified and reviewed. Results vary for the implementation of RtI to support students with or at risk of ED. Although some studies reported potential positive effects of implementing RtI to reduce disruptive behaviors among students, other studies reported that students were unresponsive to the received behavioral intervention within RtI. Further studies are thus needed to fill the gap in the literature on how students with or at risk of ED can be supported by schools adopting the RtI model.

Keywords: Response to intervention, Emotional disturbance, Emotional and behavioral disorders, Behavioral challenges, Emotional challenges

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-36-08

Publication date: December 31^st 2020