Intervention is an increasingly common term in the world of education. To intervene as an educator, or as a whole school, means recognizing and addressing any gaps in a student’s progress, ideally as early as possible in that student’s educational journey.
In this article, we’ll consider why early intervention is beneficial—information that can be helpful for educators to share with parents who may resist accepting an intervention, especially if it means psychoeducational diagnoses will follow their child throughout their education.
We’ll also consider some strategies that you can adopt to help you plan the most effective interventions for your students; strategies that educators have told us not only benefit their students who are struggling, but their entire class as well.
Numerous studies emphasize the value of early intervention for students who are struggling academically or socially and emotionally. Researchers like Reynolds et al. (2001) note the benefits of higher educational achievement, lower drop-out and absenteeism rates, and lower rates of special education and of holding students back (i.e., grade retention). Hawkins et al. (2008) report that for the students they followed, “elementary grade intervention was related to greater accomplishment and engagement in school, work, and community, and fewer mental health problems by ages 24 and 27.”
Although the above examples focus on early intervention, intervention later in a child’s educational journey can likewise yield benefits. Krashen and McQuillan, 2007, for instance, point out the value of late intervention for struggling readers, if that intervention consists of “massive ‘free voluntary reading.’”
In general, however, when you consider the variety of negative impacts on students whose struggles are not recognized and addressed when they first start to appear (impacts such as extreme frustration, lack of engagement, problems with peers, lack of confidence, among others), it does not make sense to delay getting these students the help they so desperately need.
Effective intervention begins with a clear identification of the need that exists. Often, the process starts with an observant educator or educational assistant noticing gaps in a student’s development and sharing their concerns with their school administration. Administration then reaches out to parents and families as well as other professionals engaged by families or working at the school, such as an occupational therapist, speech therapist, or school psychologist. Administration may also engage one of their specialized teachers or support teachers prior to a formal assessment. These specialized teachers can provide some supports and recommendations within the school setting if a child is experiencing challenges. However, a psychoeducational assessment may later be pursued as, through these assessments, families may find their child has an underlying learning disability, such as dyslexia or dyscalculia, or that their child has ADHD or anxiety, or some other condition that is making it difficult for them to positively experience learning and the school environment.
AFIT co-founder, Heather Boone, learned to her distress that getting a need or needs identified can be a long and difficult process that prevents children from getting help. In “When a Little Frustration Means a Lot” Heather describes her son’s increasing frustration with reading, despite the family being told there was nothing to worry about. Such was her son’s level of frustration, and the corresponding delay in assessment and intervention, that AFIT developed a learning app specifically designed to enable educators to assess frustration as a symptom of greater problems needing to be identified and addressed. As Heather realized through her own experience, assessment needs to be accurate and comprehensive so as to ensure early and effective intervention.
Once you have identified a need, the next step is to develop, in partnership with other professionals (for example, a pediatrician, psychologist, OT, etc.), a targeted intervention plan. Within the classroom setting there are a variety of interventions that can be implemented. For some students, individualized supports delivered through one-to-one engagement with a student (for example, in the form of a dedicated half- or full-day support person) may be necessary. However, a more universal approach through whole class intervention may also provide appropriate interventions. In some cases, it will be a mixture of both approaches. Often a whole school approach may also be appropriate, especially if the struggles some students are experiencing are commonplace across the school (for example, certain social-emotional issues, or math or literacy delays that occasion explicit instruction for all classes or small group learning sessions with a math or literacy specialist).
Alongside one-to-one and classroom-based interventions, Hannah Hawthorne at Hub (2021) identifies the following intervention types for use with struggling students:
To successfully implement any type of intervention, it’s essential that you start with a solid understanding of the need to be met. If a full psychological-education assessment is not yet on the cards but you have concerns, consider an app like the Afit Learning app to help you establish if and how a particular student is struggling. Once you have a better idea of what’s going on, it’s then vital that you work with other teachers, your administration, associated professionals (if available), and student families to determine the right kind of intervention and to strategically plan how you are going to put that intervention into practice.
Remember that every student is different and the intervention that will work for one student will not work with another. Be creative in your approach and open to the process being fun and engaging for the students involved, rather than getting too focused on a rigid outcome. Also remember to listen if concerns are being raised by another teacher or by a parent about a student’s behaviour or progress. Adopting a 360 approach can ensure that student frustrations and struggles are not ignored but are examined and addressed as early and as effectively as possible.
Hannah Hawthorn recommends that educators implementing an intervention strive to make learning fun and link specific concepts and subject areas to the wider learning that is happening in the classroom for all students. She also notes that timing is key to an intervention and cautions that short, intermittent, personalized bursts of intervention may prove more effective than non-stop intervention that may isolate students and cause staff wellbeing to suffer.
Educators often learn most from their struggling students and most excel in their profession when they work to identify and meet those students’ needs. As many educators also already know from experience, effectively intervening on behalf of our struggling students benefits all of students. Don’t be afraid to dig deeper if a student is showing signs of frustration and difficulty in your classroom. You just might be on track to a successful intervention that will change that student’s educational experience and set them up for more positive experiences later in life.