Tootling for supporting the inclusion of students with special needs in general education classrooms: A systematic literature review

Abstract

Disruptive behaviours negatively impact students’ academic and social progress, leading to poor outcomes later in life. The effects can be especially detrimental for students with additional needs. After decades of reliance on a punitive approach to behaviour management in schools, positive behaviour interventions are gaining recognition for their ability to manage problematic behaviours by teaching students the appropriate ways to interact and creating positive and supportive environments. The Schoolwide Positive Behaviour Interventions and Support (SWPBIS) framework provides a proactive, flexible approach to behaviour management through a tiered system of supports. Supports are provided in accordance with the needs of a student, with the strategies of Tier 1 designed to support the needs of the majority of students. Considering that physical placement of special needs students in general education classrooms does not always mean meaningful inclusion of those students on academic and social processes of the classrooms, strategies for inclusion are needed. As inclusion strategies should target both typical and special needs students, they should be implemented schoolwide, as Tier 1 strategies. In this systematic literature review a positive behaviour intervention called Tootling is evaluated as a potential strategy for enhancing inclusion of students with special needs in general education classrooms. Being implemented classwide Tootling has a potential improving behaviour of special needs students without separating or singling them out in any other way.

The review examined sixteen studies that assessed the effects of Tootling at the classwide level in inclusive classrooms, alongside three studies that focused on individual students with special needs. Studies were evaluated using the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) standards for research design quality (Institute of Education Studies, 2017). Data were systematically aggregated to provide an overview of participants, methodologies, and findings. Additionally, the outcome data was subjected to systematic visual analysis for additional validation.

Findings indicate that Tootling is an effective, evidence-based intervention for reducing disruptive behaviour and increasing appropriate behaviour in inclusive classrooms, meeting the WWC “5-3-20” threshold (Institute of Education Studies, 2017). The evidence for the effect of Tootling on passive off-task behaviour was insufficient with a small number of studies that evaluated passive off-task and inconclusive results of those studies. The results regarding the effect of Tootling on disruptive and appropriate behaviour in individual students with special needs were promising. Further research from various research teams covering larger numbers of diverse participants is needed to strengthen the evidence base and explore long-term impacts.