Understanding MTSS and Dyslexia: A System of Supports

Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) is a framework that schools use to provide academic, behavioral, and social-emotional support to all students. MTSS is designed as a preventative, proactive model, meaning the goal is to identify and address learning challenges early—before they become larger gaps.

Note: Dyslexia is a life-long disability. However, when early intervention occurs the challenges associated with dyslexia can be significantly reduced! 

How MTSS Works

MTSS uses tiers of support:

• Tier 1: High-quality instruction for all students in the general education classroom.

• Tier 2: Targeted interventions for students who need extra help beyond Tier 1.
  
  

• Tier 3: Intensive, individualized interventions for students with significant learning needs.
  
  

For students showing characteristics of dyslexia, MTSS can help identify which students need structured literacy interventions and track progress with regular, data-driven monitoring.

MTSS at the Secondary Level

While MTSS is often discussed in early grades, it’s equally important in middle and high school. Many students may have undiagnosed dyslexia or persistent literacy gaps that affect reading, writing, and overall academic performance. At the secondary level, MTSS:

• Provides targeted academic supports to close reading gaps.
  
  

• Helps students access evidence-based structured literacy interventions.
  
  

• Uses progress monitoring and data to adjust supports in real time.
  
  

Child Find and Dyslexia Identification

It’s important to remember that MTSS cannot be used to delay identification of a learning disability under Child Find obligations. If a student is not responding to Tier 2 or Tier 3 interventions, or shows patterns consistent with dyslexia, the school must promptly evaluate the student for special education. MTSS is a tool to identify and support, not delay access to individualized evaluation or services.

Why This Matters for Families

Understanding MTSS helps families:

• Know how interventions are structured across tiers.
  
  

• Advocate for evidence-based, individualized supports for their child.
  
  

• Ensure schools are meeting both preventative goals and legal obligations to identify and serve students with dyslexia.

How Personal Literacy Plans (PLPs) and MTSS Work Together in Rhode Island

In Rhode Island, Personal Literacy Plans (PLPs) and MTSS are designed to complement each other to support students who are reading below grade level.

• MTSS identifies students who need extra support through a tiered system of interventions, using data from screenings, benchmarks, and progress monitoring. It provides targeted and intensive instruction based on student needs.
  
  

• PLPs are created for students who continue to struggle meeting grade-level literacy standards. A PLP documents the student’s specific goals, interventions, and progress monitoring, and ensures that supports are coordinated across the school team.
  
  

• When a student has an IEP and a PLP, Rhode Island guidance requires that the IEP goals align with the PLP to provide consistent, evidence-based literacy instruction.
  
  

Together, MTSS and PLPs ensure that students receive structured, individualized supports, while giving families and educators a clear plan to monitor progress and adjust instruction as needed.

Using MTSS to identify SLD/Dyslexia is based on:

• Low reading achievement (caused by challenges with accurate and fluent word reading and spelling).

• Inadequate response to intervention (RtI or MTSS) 

• Consideration of exclusionary factors (Specifically, the definition of SLD in reauthorization of IDEA in 2004 states that “Such term does not include a learning problem that is primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of intellectual disabilities, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.) 

• Note: Current empirical evidence does not support the use of IQ-achievement discrepancy methods for identifying dyslexia or other SLDs, as they are unreliable and lack validity. 

Assessment of Specific Learning Disabilities and Intellectual Disabilities 

Questions to Ask About Reading Achievement (Specific Learning Disability Criterion 1):

• Is my child meeting grade-level proficiency on RICAS? 

• Is my child meeting grade-level standards on your school's benchmark assessment? (Star, Aimsweb, iReady, etc.) 

• Do you have samples of the unit assessments and scores from the High Quality Curricular Materials that our district is using? (EL, Wit and Wisdom, Into Reading, etc.). 

• We highly recommend brining in writing samples from your child's notebooks, folders, etc.
  
  

Questions To Ask about RTI/Tiered Interventions (Specific Learning Disability Criterion 2): 

• What data was used to determine if my child is making adequate progress with the intervention?

• How does my child’s progress compare to grade-level norms?

• Is my child receiving a structured literacy intervention? 

• Has my child’s rate of improvement been enough to close the gap in a reasonable timeframe? 

• Can you provide us with the graph that demonstrates adequate growth? (Graph will have goal line, aim line, intervention frequency, and progress toward goal. If the growth line  is not parallel with the aim line, a change in intensity of to the intervention itself should happen or this can indicate characteristics of a learning disability.) 

• How long has my child been receiving Tier 2 or Tier 3 intervention, and how often?

• What evidence-based reading program or intervention was used?

• Was the intervention aligned to my child’s area of need (e.g., decoding, fluency, comprehension), can you share the subtest scores with us?

• How many students were in the intervention group, and who provided the instruction?

• Was fidelity of the intervention monitored, and how?

• Was my child’s progress monitored weekly or biweekly? Can I see those graphs?

Questions to Ask About Exclusionary Factors (Specific Learning Disability Criterion 3):

• Does my child have a visual, hearing, or motor disability?

• Does my child have intellectual disabilities? (Note: students with ID still benefit from structured literacy if they have decoding, encoding, or fluency struggles!)

• Does my child have a documented emotional disturbance? (Note: some emotional and behavioral concerns could be  a result of unaddressed reading deficits. Academic and behavioral scales are both important). 

• Document that your child's reading struggles are not caused by environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantages? (Note: pay attention to make sure the school biases or assumptions are not part of this decision). 

Questions to Ask About Evidence-Based Instruction (Specific Learning Disability Criterion 4):

• Was my child provided evidence-based instruction? 

Tips: 

• Focus on the data! The data tells a story! Schools are well-rehearsed and prepared to avoid services when a family comes in saying their child has dyslexia and needs OG! 

• Use the data to justify services:  Cite below level RICAS scores, poor benchmark assessments, and progress monitoring data from their Tiered interventions (specifically graphs that show their response to intervention did not show adequate growth). 

• Focus on using the data that will support:

  • Specific Learning Disability Criterion 1: Achievement gap in meeting age- or grade-level state standards when provided with appropriate instruction (RICAS, Benchmark Assessments, Unit Assessments) 

  • Specific Learning Disability Criterion 2: Lack of sufficient progress in response to scientific, research-based intervention (Reading interventions provided across all tiers of instruction). Example: A student is receiving Tier 3 structured literacy intervention, but is not reaching their goal despite fidelity of instruction.