Intensive Intervention – A Practitioner’s Guide for Communicating with Parents and Families

For children with the most severe and persistent academic and/or behavioral challenges, parent and family involvement is vital. Student outcome data suggest that our current educational system does not adequately prepare students with the most intensive needs, particularly students with disabilities, for the world of college and work. Although the performance of some students with disabilities has improved during the past two decades, these students continue to fall behind their peers in reading and math and are more likely to experience discipline problems at school than their peers. The use of intensive intervention is one way that schools can use to improve outcomes for students, including students with disabilities.

School teams can use this guide to better understand intensive intervention and how to engage parents and families with the process. The language and examples throughout this guide are summarized versions of more comprehensive content related to intensive intervention and data-based individualization (DBI) available through the National Center on Intensive Intervention (NCII).

A Practitioner’s Guide for Communicating with Parents and Families