Examining the Efficacy of School-Based Consultation: Recommendations for Improving Outcomes

Abstract

Schools are faced with the difficult task of educating students who present diverse learning and behavioral challenges. To meet student needs, schools tap the expertise of a variety of specialists who provide services through "pull-out" programs or consultation to general educators. Unfortunately, neither strategy has proved effective to date with respect to children and youth who present significant social behavior problems. A brief review of the literature points to the shortcomings as linked to multiple treatments with varying outcomes and inconsistent implementation of best practices. One option to address the challenges schools face in light of ineffective practices to date is the development of school-wide systems of positive behavior support (PBS). Effective implementation of school-wide systems of PBS will require moving the consultation process from individual cases to working with teams of ed-Timothy J. Lewis, PhD, is Associate Professor in the

Directed Consultation, the SEALS Model, and Teachers’ Classroom Management

“…Directed consultation builds from a variety of approaches in school-based consultation. Consultation is a service delivery model that involves a specialist (i.e., consultant) who provides knowledge and guidance to a consultee (i.e., teacher), who intervenes directly with a client (i.e., student; Kratochwill & Pittman, 2002; Lewis & Newcomer, 2002). Types of consultation have been distinguished by the relationship and role of the various participants.…”

Evaluating Factors that Influence Treatment Integrity During Peer Consultation

“…These results indicate that teachers do consider a consultant's skill level as important during the consultation process. This is consistent with results from Lewis and Newcomer (2002) and Tysinger et al (2009).…”

“…Due to schools relying on consultation to meet the state and federal requirements of students with problem behavior in complex school environments (Lewis & Newcomer, 2002) a review of literature on factors that influence treatment integrity was warranted.…”

“…Some, but not all, of these include: (a) consultant leadership style (Kelleher, Riley-Tillman, & Power, 2008;Tysinger, Tysinger, & Diamanduros, 2009), (b) consultee and consultant skill level (Gettinger, Stoiber, & Koscik, 2008;Lewis & Newcomer, 2002;Sterling-Turner, Watson, & Moore, 2002;Wilkinson, 2003), (c) social power strategies (Getty & Erchul, 2009;Wilson, Erchul, & Raven, 2008), (d) acceptability of treatment plans (Chitiyo & Wheeler, 2009;Kelleher, et al, 2008;Noell et al, 2005;Sanetti & Kratochwill, 2008;Segool, et al, 2007;Tysinger, et al, 2009;Wilkinson, 2003), (e) time of consultant and teacher to implement the intervention (Gansle & Noell, 2008;Gonzalez, Nelson, Gutkin, & Shwery, 2004;Lane, et al, 2004;Sanetti & Kratochwill, 2008), and (f) training provided to consultee (Sanetti & Kratochwill, 2008;Sterling-Turner et al, 2002). When treatment integrity is not assessed during the consultation process, behavior change cannot be fully attributed to the effectiveness of the treatment plan (Lane et al, 2004).…”

“…The consultant's skill level is another area that can affect the consultation process. Lewis and Newcomer (2002) list consultant skill as a critical feature of effective consultation. "The consultant must possess a level of expertise and fluency in both process and content" (p. 172) in order to be effective during the consultation process with consultees.…”