Response to Intervention (RtI) Model: a promising alternative for identifying students with learning disabilities?

Until recently, in the United States, the traditional way to identify students with Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) was through the discrepancy model where student IQs were compared to their level of achievement. However, educators and researchers alike have questioned this model as a means to define and identify students with SLD. The 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) includes the use of response to intervention (RtI) as possible alternative to the intelligence-achievement discrepancy for identifying SLD. Core components of RtI include high-quality classroom instruction, universal screening, continuous progress monitoring, research-based interventions, and fidelity of instructional interventions. In Spain, the last publication of Ley Orgánica 2/2006, May 3, of Education (LOE) uses the term, Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD), in the chapter on students with specific needs of educational support. Some Autonomous Communities in Spain like the Canary Islands region are regulating SLD identification that adds RtI as an option to use in the eligibility process. Nevertheless, this model it is still at an embryonic stage and many issues are unresolved. While no special issue can cover all of these themes and issues, the contributions included in this monograph examine relevant aspects of this approach. Indeed, this special section is an attempt to introduce in Spain an approach that could be an alternative for identifying and intervening with students who have learning disabilities.