The Case for Reasonable Intervention

Abstract

High rates of inaccurate referral, negative psychological consequences of stigmatization, and evaluation bias underscore the need for special educators to take a more aggressive role in challenging the referral activities of school personnel. Although it is expected that a variety of intervention efforts will be used as a natural part of the child's educational experience, it is unclear what interventions regular classroom teachers see as reasonable to use with children they are considering for referral. Non-Referring Teachers (NRTs) and Referring Teachers (RTs) rated the reasonableness of frequently recommended interventions. Subjects also identified interventions they prefer to use. Results show that the attitudes of NRTs differ significantly from those of RTs on the reasonableness of suggested interventions. The pattern of preferred usage indicates that NRTs identify interventions that are more directly related to task design and instructional interaction, while RTs tend to select more indirect strategies that focus on contextual variables. Implications for data-based teacher training for regular and special educators are presented.