Alicia F. Saunders

Schema-Based Instruction With Concrete and Virtual Manipulatives to Teach Problem Solving to Students With Autism

The current study evaluated the effects of modified schema-based instruction on the mathematical word problem solving skills of three elementary students with autism spectrum disorders and moderate intellectual disability. Participants learned to solve compare problem type with themes that related to their interests and daily experiences. In addition, researchers compared the effects of concrete and virtual manipulatives within the treatment package. Results of the multiple probes across participants with an embedded alternating treatments design showed a functional relation between modified schema-based instruction and word problem solving. Two of three participants performed more steps in the virtual condition and one participant had equal performance in both concrete and virtual conditions. When given a choice between conditions upon skill mastery, all three participants preferred the virtual condition and maintained treatment effects. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Solving the Common Core Equation: Teaching Mathematics CCSS to Students with Moderate and Severe Disabilities

erate intellectual disability, received instruction on the same early mathematics skills. Although he made a little progress in telling time, naming coins, and counting items, by the time he reached fourth grade he seemed frustrated doing the same mathematics he had practiced since he was a preschooler. He refused to do his lessons, and it seemed like Joseph just did not like mathematics. By the end of fifth grade, however, it was another story. While the school’s morning announcements were blaring over the speaker and Joseph was getting his backpack put away, he was eagerly asking, “Math? Ms. Harris! Math?” What changed? Well, in part, Ms. Harris had decided to expect more of Joseph. She continued to promote his learning of basic skills such as telling time and counting during the course of many everyday activities, but she also began to teach him the same skills all fifth-graders would learn. Using realworld mathematics stories, interactive whiteboard materials, and hands-on manipulatives, she began to teach Joseph and his classmates to calculate perimeter and area, find a point on a coordinate plane, and create a graph. She began to teach Joseph the Common Core State Standards for his assigned grade. Surprisingly, Joseph grasped concepts like perimeter and coordinate planes even while continuing to master basics. Ms. Harris is representative of teachers who have found ways to adapt the Common Core State Standards in mathematics for students with moderate and severe disabilities.

Early Numeracy Instruction for Students with Moderate and Severe Developmental Disabilities

Competence in early numeracy skills highly correlate with success in mathematics in later years; however, many students, including students with moderate and severe disabilities, lack a sound foundation in early numeracy skills. For this population, the gaps in skills widen as students progress through academic years, making it more difficult for students to access the general curriculum, and consequently, students exit school without the skills needed for the 21st century. This article provides a conceptual model for teaching early numeracy skills to elementary students with moderate and severe developmental disabilities, as well as pilot research in both special and general education settings. Limitations and suggestions for future research are included.

The Additive Effects of Scripted Lessons Plus Guided Notes on Science Quiz Scores of Students With Intellectual Disability and Autism

This study examined the effects of scripted lessons (SLs) alone and in combination with guided notes during science instruction on science quiz scores of three elementary students with moderate to severe intellectual disability and autism. This study used a multiple probe across three science units design with replication across students and included four conditions of baseline, SLs, scripted lessons plus guided notes (SLs + GNs), and maintenance. Results showed a change in level from baseline to the SLs condition for all three participants and additional slight improvement in scores during the SLs + GNs condition for two participants. Furthermore, acquisition of science content was maintained over time for all participants. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Teaching the Common Core in English Language Arts to Students with Severe Disabilities

guage arts class has 12 students with a wide range of ability levels: two students use wheelchairs and have limited mobility in their arms, one student has low vision, five students are nonverbal, four have autism spectrum disorder, three students use English as their second language, and all have moderate or severe intellectual disability. Mrs. Lewis started the year with one goal in mind: to share her love of literature and English language arts by exposing the students to a variety of genres, while teaching to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). In Mrs. Lewis’s classroom, literary terms and definitions cover the walls with items such as character, setting, theme, and plot—all with picture supports. The students all have an adapted text of The Pearl by John Steinbeck (1947) on their desks, and follow along by text pointing. The student with low vision has an enlarged adapted text set on a slant board, and the nonverbal students have a Big Mack switch to read the repeated story line. Mrs. Lewis reviews the events that have happened in The Pearl up to this point. She uses time delay and example/nonexample training to teach a combination of high-frequency sight words and grade-level vocabulary prior to starting the next chapter. Mr. Davis, the paraprofessional, reads the text projected on the interactive whiteboard aloud to the students. Unlike many adapted texts, there are no picture symbols above the words, but there is a picture or two on each page of text illustrating what is happening in the story. As Mr. Davis reads the text aloud and the students text point in their adapted books, Mrs. Lewis acts out a scene where Kino deftly opens the oyster shell to reveal an incandescent pearl. The students are mesmerized as Mrs. Lewis walks around showing them the beautiful pearl in the oyster shell, and the students get to feel the rough oyster shell and the smooth pearl. Seeing, touching, and interacting with the shell and the pearl is a new experience for many of the students. Mrs. Lewis projects several comprehension questions on the whiteboard; some are literal and some are inferential. She checks students’ understanding by walking from student to student, displaying response options on an iPad. One student selects an incorrect answer, and she uses a leastintrusive prompting script to guide him to the correct answer. For inferential questions that cannot be found directly in the text, Mrs. Lewis uses a thinkaloud strategy to help students come up with the answer. She closes the lesson by reading an excerpt from the original text so students have an opportunity to hear the author’s tone and the rich language. At the end of the lesson, Mrs. Lewis’s students show an impressive level of understanding, thanks to the supports and instructional strategies she has used to keep them actively engaged in the storybased lesson (which is aligned to both the content and the CCSS).

Promoting Access to Common Core Mathematics for Students with Severe Disabilities through Mathematical Problem Solving.

There is a need to teach the pivotal skill of mathematical problem solving to students with severe disabilities, moving beyond basic skills like computation to higher level thinking skills. Problem solving is emphasized as a Standard for Mathematical Practice in the Common Core State Standards across grade levels. This article describes a conceptual model for teaching mathematical problem solving to students with severe disabilities based on research from a multiyear project. The model proposed incorporates schema-based instruction combined with evidence-based practices for teaching academics to this population, and includes technology supports and self-monitoring. The purpose is to teach students to recognize underlying problem structures in word problems for better generalizability to real-world situations. This article outlines the existing evidence for teaching problem solving to students with disabilities, the conceptual model for teaching mathematical problem solving to students with severe disabilities, and the implications of the model for practitioners and future researchers.

Teaching Personal Finance Mathematical Problem Solving to Individuals with Moderate Intellectual Disability.

The ability to solve mathematical problems related to purchasing and personal finance is important in promoting skill generalization and increasing independence for individuals with moderate intellectual disabilities (IDs). Using a multiple probe across participant design, this study investigated the effects of modified schema-based instruction (MSBI) on personal finance problem solving skills, purchasing an item on sale or leaving a tip, and using a calculator or iDevice (i.e., iPhone or iPad) for three middle school students diagnosed with a moderate ID. The results showed a functional relation between MSBI using a calculator on the participant’s ability to solve addition and subtraction personal finance word problems and generalize to iDevices. The findings of this study provide several implications for practice and offer suggestions for future research.

An Updated Evidence-Based Practice Review on Teaching Mathematics to Students With Moderate and Severe Developmental Disabilities:

The purpose of this review was to examine the body of research on teaching mathematics to students with moderate and severe developmental disability that has been published since 2005, reflecting changes in both the academic expectations for this population and research and design standards in the evidence-based practice (EBP) era. We examined research on teaching mathematical skills for students with moderate and severe developmental disability from 2005–2016 and found 36 studies (33 single-case and three group-experimental studies), updating the Browder, Spooner, Ahlgrim-Delzell, Harris, and Wakeman analysis. Of the 36 studies included in the review, 22 single-case and three group-design studies received a rating of high or adequate quality using the National Technical Assistance Center on Transition (NTACT) indicator criteria. In addition to systematic instruction, instructional procedures of technology-aided instruction, graphic organizers, manipulatives, and explicit instruction were found to be EBPs in teaching mathematics to this population.

Teaching Students With Moderate Intellectual Disability to Solve Word Problems

This study evaluated an intervention developed through an Institute of Education Sciences-funded Goal 2 research project to teach students with moderate intellectual disability (moderate ID) to solve addition and subtraction word problems. The intervention involved modified schema-based instruction that embedded effective practices (e.g., pictorial task analysis, graphic organizers, systematic prompting with feedback) for teaching mathematics skills to students with moderate ID. The dependent variables included steps performed correctly on a problem solving task analysis, number of problems solved, problem type discrimination, and generalization of problem solving skills. Results of a multiple probe across student dyads design indicated a functional relation between three dependent variables and the intervention. Upon completion of the intervention, all eight participants with moderate ID correctly followed the task analysis, discriminated problem types, and solved word problems. Key discussion items include feasibility of teaching problem solving skills, types of modifications needed, and the generality of these skills to novel formats.

Using Video Prompting to Teach Mathematical Problem Solving of Real-World Video-Simulation Problems.

Mathematical problem solving is necessary in many facets of everyday life, yet little research exists on how to teach students with more severe disabilities higher order mathematics like problem solving. Using a multiple probe across participants design, three middle school students with moderate intellectual disability (ID) were taught to solve video-simulation real-world mathematical problems by finger counting using video prompting (VP) in conjunction with systematic instruction (e.g., least intrusive prompting) with error correction and feedback. The simulated videos covered a variety of thematic units (i.e., pet store, grocery store, household chores, sporting goods store, outside chores, and thrift store) students may encounter in their everyday lives. The results of this study demonstrated a functional relation between VP and participants’ mathematical problem-solving skills. Findings from this study provide several implications for practice and research for using video-based interventions to teach mathematical problem solving to students with moderate ID.