Modifying a Research-Based Intervention to Improve the Problem Solving of Students With and Without Learning Disability

• In Event: Special Education Research: Math Instruction and Students With Disabilities

Abstract

This study tested the efficacy of a cognitive strategy instructional intervention for mathematical problem solving after modifying it for younger students (i.e., fifth and sixth grades). General education teachers and their students (i.e., average-achieving students, low-achieving students, and students with LD) participated. Five intervention features were modified: explicitness of instruction, emphasis on metacognition, focus on problem-solving prerequisites, intervention duration, and use of visual supports. Curriculum-based measures (CBMs) of math problem solving were administered five times over the course of the year. A multi-level model (measures within students and students within schools) was used to analyze student progress on CBMs. Though scores of the treatment group were initially lower than the comparison group, treatment students improved significantly more over time.

Author

• Jennifer Lee Krawec, University of Miami