When does consultation lead to intervention implementation? Critical issues for research and practice

For consultation to result in the delivery of services to students, it must lead to implementation of an intervention. For this reason, intervention i mplementation is the crucial challenge for the practice of consultation and , as a result, is the critical research need. The argument is advanced that too little is known about the extent to which teachers actually implement interventions following consultation, as opposed to what they say about imp lementation, because implementation has infrequently been directly measured . The consultation database also provides few analyses of the conditions un der which consultees do and do not implement interventions. This article co nsiders fundamental issues of definition, measurement, and design as they r elate to the study of the relationship between consultation and interventio n implementation.