UNDERSTANDING THE
INTERVENTION PROCESS
Establishing Special Education Referral
Procedures
HELP IS AVAILABLE!
Access handouts and referral questions at
www.hisdsped.wordpress.com (Click Referral)
 Access information on the district’s Response to
Intervention (RtI) initiatives at www.hisdrti.com
 All Special Education Referral Forms (excluding
Chancery Reports) are located at the Special
Education Operating Guidelines Website.

WHAT IS RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION
(RTI)?
Establishes a comprehensive assessment and
intervention process to support students in need
of academic and behavioral supports.
 Serves as the framework of interventions that
must be documented as part of the Special
Education referral process.

RtI is prior to, and a part of the evaluation!
 Teacher data documented during the RtI process is
the most powerful component of a Special Education
evaluation!
 Teacher data sets the “scope” of a Special Education
evaluation!

WHAT IS RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION
(RTI)?
Tier I: Represents the delivery of the core
curriculum and is on-going for ALL students.
 Tier II: Represents intensified support to meet
specific academic and behavioral needs in
addition to Tier I.
 Tier III: Reserved for students most in need of
academic or behavioral supports. Represents
individualized or intensive intervention.


Those who fail to respond to Tier III interventions
are the best candidates for a Special Education
evaluation.
WHAT IS THE INTERVENTION ASSISTANCE
TEAM (IAT)?

Works within RtI to coordinate a series of tasks
Universal screenings
 Progress monitoring
 School-wide data review to trigger the intervention
process
 Academic and behavioral interventions


Facilitates all referrals for Section 504 or Special
education

Even those in which intervention is not needed!
CHILD FIND

Continuous process of public awareness
activities, screening, and evaluation designed to
locate, assess and identify children with
disabilities.

Campus IATs serve the Child Find function at your
campus
WHO SHOULD BE ON THE IAT?
IAT coordinator (Honest broker of data).
 Campus administrator or designee.
 Classroom teacher(s) who specializes in the
presenting problem.
 Classroom teacher of the student.
 Parent, nurse, counselor, social worker, and
campus instructional coordinator as needed.
 Evaluation Specialist, Speech Therapist,
Licensed Specialist in School Psychology (if
behavioral issues are a concern) at Tier Three.

IAT TIME-SAVING TIPS

Standard-Protocol Approach
Matches appropriate intervention strategies to
specific student needs (i.e. Interventions are
prescribed, the need for IAT meetings at Tier II is
eliminated).
 Reserves IAT meetings for Tier III
 Establishes the “Assumption,” the campus knows
what to do immediately for Tier II (i.e. Standardprotocol) and there is no need for an IAT meeting at
Tier II.

IAT TIME-SAVING TIPS

Consider having multiple IATs to decrease the
time on task for one IAT team.
 Consider IAT by level, by curriculum area, or
alternating IATs.
PARENT REFERRALS

When a formal request for special education
evaluation is made by a parent (i.e. in writing)
the IAT must respond within 10 school days.


The response should be to either formally REFER or
to REFUSE the parent request for evaluation.
Use the Notice of Refusal form located in the
Special Education Operating Guidelines if the
decision is to refuse a parent request for
evaluation.

Refusals are allowed, but must be supported with
data.
DOCUMENTING INTERVENTIONS IN
CHANCERY SMS…WHAT!!!!
Supports the HISD appraisal process
 Ensures the intervention record “travels” with
the student
 Assists with parent meetings
 Eliminates IAT paperwork
 Establishes intervention consistency between
grades
 Eliminates Special Education referral paperwork
for the teacher

DOCUMENTING INTERVENTIONS IN
CHANCERY SMS…RELAX!!!!
ALL teachers with the teacher role in Chancery
SMS already have access
 ALL administrators already have access
 If you are in need of school-wide access and you
do not have the administer role in Chancery,
simply request the role View Only w/ Discipline
role


Additional training is available at SIS HELP Course
Number SP0911 (RTI). Easy to view online video if
additional assistance is needed.
TIPS FOR THE IAT CHAIR

Set aside time with the Campus Evaluation
Specialist to understand:
The Referral for Disability Evaluation form
 Detailed and overview steps for a Special Education
referral
 Additional documents needed in the referral process
 How to enter referral dates in Chancery SMS to
trigger the data transfer to EasyIEP
