Poster #80 - Impact of a Math Storybook Intervention on the Numeracy Skills of Students with Learning Disabilities

• In Event: 1-005 - Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Section - Education, Schooling

Integrative Statement

Research suggests that storybooks can benefit children’s mathematical development by increasing interest in the subject (Jennings, Jennings, Richey, & Dixon-Krauss, 1992), promoting meaningful mathematical conversation (Hojnoski, Columba, & Polignano, 2014), and improving mathematical knowledge (van den Heuvel-Panhuizen, Elia, & Robitzsch, 2016). However, few studies have examined the use of math storybooks among students with learning disabilities. Students with disabilities are at risk for low math achievement (Swanson & Jerman, 2006) and experience higher rates of math anxiety than their non-disabled peers, which further disrupts their math performance (Nelson & Harwood, 2011). In an intervention study of preschool children with disabilities, Green, Gallagher, and Hart (2018) found that the integration of mathematics and literature improved students’ numeracy skills. The present study extends their findings to older children and explores the impact of a math storybook intervention on the numeracy knowledge and math anxiety of elementary-aged students with learning disabilities.

Participants included 44 children in kindergarten through 5th grade who received one hour of math instruction daily as part of a summer program for children with disabilities. Students who attended in July (n = 23) were assigned to the intervention group and students who attended in August (n = 21) were assigned to the control group. Math instruction focused on numeracy skills aligned with Common Core standards taught through small group activities. Intervention students engaged in shared math storybook reading at the beginning of each math lesson while control students engaged in non-math storybook reading.

Numeracy skills were measured using a researcher-created assessment that aligned with Common Core standards. A separate numeracy assessment was created for grades K – 1, 2 – 3, and 4 – 5. Experts in the field of childhood mathematics assessed the validity of the numeracy measures. Math anxiety was measured using the Child Math Anxiety Questionnaire (Ramirez, Gunderson, Levine, & Beilock, 2013). Reading skills were measured using AIMSweb Curriculum-Based Measurement.

An ANCOVA was conducted to detect differences between posttest scores on the numeracy and math anxiety measures. Results revealed that the intervention group (M = 78.39, SD = 10.06) made significantly more gains in numeracy skills than the control group (M = 72.64, SD = 15.11), controlling for pretest scores, age, gender, and reading scores, F(1, 37) = 4.68, p = .037, η2 = .11. No significant differences were found based on students’ age, gender or reading scores. Furthermore, the second ANCOVA revealed no significant differences between the two groups on the posttest measure of math anxiety, controlling for age, gender, and pretest scores. See Table 1 for the ANCOVA results.

The present study examined a storybook reading intervention and found that integrating storybooks into mathematics instruction improved the numeracy skills but not math anxiety levels among elementary-aged students with learning disabilities. This promising finding adds to the sparse body of mathematics intervention studies on children with learning disabilities and demonstrates that storybooks can serve as a useful tool to support struggling students’ numeracy knowledge when combined with small group instruction targeting foundational math skills.

Author

• Colleen Uscianowski, Teachers College, Columbia University
  Presenting Author