Math strategies for special education students

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Special education students often lack the necessary mathematical skills needed to be independently successful in the secondary classroom. These students face challenges in applying the basic math skills needed as well as retaining basic math skills from grade level to grade level. Lack of understanding, in addition to causing classroom difficulties, can cause other personal and social dilemmas for the special education students. Lack of motivation, anger, lack of self value, and other disruptive behaviors may occur as a result of the difficulties the special education students have in the classroom. In order to help these students to overcome poor problem solving skills, effective strategy based instruction is needed. Teachers look to research for effective strategies to successfully instruct these students (Maccini & Strickland, 2010).

Finding meaningful problem-solving strategies that can motivate and extend special education students’ knowledge is often an issue for secondary educators. Special educators look for ways to change instructional practices for students with specific learning disabilities in the area of math. Special educators advocate for changes in instructional practices for students with learning disabilities in math that reflect a more balanced approach to instruction (Bottge, Kwon, LaRoque, Rueda, & Serlin, 2007). Research has shown that strategies can improve student performance in the area of math (Maccini & Strickland, 2010).

In 2000, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) proclaimed that schools should help students become confident in their ability to tackle difficult

MATH STRATEGIES FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION STUDENTS

problems, eager to figure things out on thei...

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...109.

Cormier, P., Carlson, J.S., & Das, J. P. (2008). Planning ability and cognitive

performance: The compensatory effects of a dynamic assessment approach. Learning and Individual Differences, 2, 437-449.

Iseman, J. S. & Naglieri, J. A. (2011). A cognitive strategy instruction to improve math

Calculation for children with ADHA and LD: A randomized controlled study. Journal

of Learning Disabilities. 44(2), 184-195.

Maccini, P., & Strickland, T. K. (2010). Strategies for teaching algebra to students with

learning Disabilities: Making research to practice connections. Intervention in School

and Clinic. 46(1) 38-45.

Zirkle, M. L. (2005). The effects of SMART board interactive whiteboard on high school

students with special needs in a functional mathematics class. Retrieved from

http://downloads01.smarttech.com/media/research.pdf

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