What is instructional intervention?

Here are two examples of what an instructional intervention can look like:

• General education student: Marcia is in first grade. She struggles with basic math skills. Her school schedules an hour of small group instruction each day to help her catch up. Every week, the teacher checks on her progress. 

• Special education student: Jeff is in fifth grade and has dyslexia. He receives 30 minutes of specialized reading instruction three times a week. Every month, his reading progress is monitored.

Learn more about how to teach kids with dyslexia to read.

An accommodation is a change to the classroom environment that gives students equal access to learning. For example, a struggling reader may use text-to-speech (TTS) software. This tool reads text out loud. It might not improve reading skills. But it helps the student access the content in books.

Accommodations can be combined with interventions. For example, the student may use TTS software along with a specific program to improve reading skills.

Learn more about the difference between accommodations and interventions.

People sometimes confuse interventions with teaching strategies. Interventions are formal. They are designed to be monitored.

Teaching strategies can be part of an intervention. But they can be informal, and they aren’t always tracked. For example, teachers may get kids to move around to help keep them engaged during an intervention.

• Explore teaching strategies for kids who learn and think differently.

• See how schools use response to intervention to help struggling students. 

• Get tips on how to talk with teachers about supports and services.