Validated Intervention Program
Validated Intervention Program
The validated intervention program, often called secondary intervention, Tier 2, or an intervention platform is a standardized, evidence-based program or instructional practice that provides targeted instruction in a specific skill or set of skills (e.g., phonemic awareness, vocabulary, math problem solving, social skills) matched to students’ needs or the function of their behavior and delivered with fidelity. Within a DBI process, this serves as a “platform” (or starting point) that the teacher will modify to meet the student’s unique needs through DBI.
When evaluating the validated intervention program that will represent the platform, teachers should consider a series of dimensions that are part of a Taxonomy of Intervention Intensity to help guide the initial intervention selection:
- Strength: the evidence of effectiveness for students with intensive needs;
- Dosage: the number of opportunities the student has to respond and receive feedback from the teacher;
- Alignment: how well the intervention matches the targeted academic skills or behaviors of concern, as well as incorporates grade-appropriate standards or behaviors we would expect for a particular context;
- Attention to transfer: whether the intervention is explicitly designed to help students make connections between the skills taught in the intervention and skills learned in other contexts and environments;
- Comprehensiveness: how well the intervention incorporates a comprehensive array of explicit instruction principles; and
- Behavioral or academic support: whether an academic intervention incorporates behavioral strategies that may support students with self-regulation, motivation, or externalizing behaviors that may impact their ability to learn, or whether a behavioral intervention considers academic components as part of the intervention.
