Strategies for Scheduling: How to Find Time to Intensify and Individualize Intervention

If you are like most educators, you agree with the idea of providing intensive intervention for students with the most intractable academic and behavior problems. The question you may be asking is, how do I find the time? Intensive intervention requires time for planning and delivering individualized instruction, as well as time for collecting and analyzing progress monitoring and diagnostic data, developing intervention plans, and making changes to plans when needed. One approach to intensifying an intervention as part of the data-based individualization (DBI) process is to increase the length or frequency of intervention sessions. Although it is important to consider whether a student needs additional time in an intervention (e.g., the intervention sessions are too brief or too infrequent), adding time to an existing intervention session may not be possible. Educators may need to think flexibly about how they plan and schedule instruction, both within existing intervention time and across the school day, to maximize efficiency and create more opportunities for students to respond to instruction and receive feedback. This guide includes strategies that educators can consider when trying to determine how to find the time for this intensification within the constraints of busy school schedules. Supplemental resources, planning questions, and example schedules are also provided.