How can data-based individualization (DBI) help educators to address the growing expectations for literacy outcomes for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities? In this webinar, Dr. Chris Lemons an NCII Advisor, Associate Professor of Special Education in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University, and Co-Director of the Stanford Down Syndrome Research Center, provides an overview of activities conducted through an Office of Special Education Programs model demonstration project. This project focused on increased literacy outcomes using DBI, inclusion, and enhancing individualized education programs. The webinar shares project findings and provides recommendations for integrating those findings into professional development and practice to improve student outcomes.

How can data-based individualization (DBI) help educators to address the growing expectations for literacy outcomes for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities? In this webinar, Dr. Chris Lemons an NCII Advisor, Associate Professor of Special Education in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University, and Co-Director of the Stanford Down Syndrome Research Center, will provide an overview of activities conducted through an Office of Special Education Programs model demonstration project. This project focused on increased literacy outcomes using DBI, inclusion, and enhancing individualized education programs. The webinar will share project findings and provide recommendations for integrating those findings into professional development and practice to improve student outcomes.  

This webinar, Getting it Right from the Start: Why Embedding Data-Based Individualization in Teacher Education Programs Matters, discusses strategies to help teacher education faculty integrate the principles of intensive intervention within undergraduate and graduate-level programs for aspiring and current teachers. The webinar highlights free and publicly available resources for faculty to embed within courses and clinical experiences, including materials from a recent community of practice (CoP) that comprised educator preparation faculty.

This webinar, featuring Drs. Donna Sacco, John Hoover, and Tracy Spies, illustrates considerations for implementing data-based individualization (DBI) with ELs that accounts for their unique academic, social, behavioral, linguistic, and cultural experiences, assets, and needs. They share why it is important to (a) deliver instruction that represents culturally and linguistically sustaining best practices, and (b) distinguish the needs and assets of learners to improve progress (i.e., second-language acquisition, culture, learning challenges).

Getting along with others, paying attention, following directions, making responsible decisions, and managing emotions are challenges for many students who require intensive intervention, and may be linked to difficulties with executive functioning, communication, behavior, and academic learning. In this webinar, presenters Mara Schanfield and Zach Weingarten shared an overview of how social emotional learning (SEL) relates to intensive intervention and offer sample strategies and resources for building social and emotional competencies for students in need of intensive learning, social, emotional, or behavioral supports.  

To support English Learners (ELs) with intensive intervention needs it is important to (a) deliver instruction that represents culturally and linguistically sustaining best practices, and (b) distinguish the needs and assets of learners to improve progress (i.e., second-language acquisition, culture, learning challenges). This brief illustrates considerations for implementing data-based individualization (DBI) with ELs that accounts for their unique academic, social, behavioral, linguistic, and cultural experiences, assets, and needs.

Special education teachers must have the skills to design and deliver intensive interventions for students with severe and persistent learning and behavioral needs. To ensure effective instruction for these students, preservice preparation programs must provide their teacher candidates with opportunities to learn, apply, and practice intensive intervention skills. Teacher preparation faculty play a critical role in ensuring the next generation of teachers have these opportunities.

Within a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS), intensive intervention, also known as Tier 3, is designed to support students with the most severe and persistent learning and/or behavior difficulties. This document highlights some common misconceptions about intensive academic and behavior interventions that experts from the Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports and NCII have observed in supporting the implementation of intensive intervention within the context of MTSS.

During fall 2020, educators provided virtual, in-person, and hybrid intervention with an ongoing need to engage with and support parents and families. Although the context and environment may have changed, the focus on providing high-quality interventions with validated practices, monitoring student progress, and adapting and intensifying supports based on student data as outlined in the data-based individualization (DBI) process continues to be applicable across virtual, in-person, or hybrid models. This document presents considerations for implementing DBI in light of COVID-19 with an emphasis on delivery in virtual settings.

NCII partnered with Project STAIR (Supporting Teaching of Algebra: Individual Readiness) to host a series of three webinars focused on implementing data-based individualization (DBI) with a focus on mathematics during COVID-19 restrictions.