Using Manipulatives Help Increase Mathematical Performance For Students With A Learning Disability

Her kindergarten teacher recognized her inability to stay focused compared to her peers. In first grade, Grace took longer to complete assignments, had a tendency to daydream, and had difficulty with paper and pencil tasks which was the most noticable in math. Her first and second grade teachers provided her with additional educational support through small group instruction, and she receives weekly instruction from the reading specialist. Finally, her scores on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fourth Edition and Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement show she has deficits in the areas of Working Memory, Passage Comprehension and Math Fluency. Since information has been obtained by a variety of dependable sources, identifying Grace as a learning disable child is

There are many different types of learning disabilities; the most common ones are dyslexia and attention deficit disorder. (Jerome Rosner. –third ed. 1)

Casey, J., McLaughlin, T. F., Weber, K. P., & Everso, M. (2003). THE EFFECTS OF FIVE MINUTE PRACTICE, UNLIMITED PRACTICE, WITH SAFMED CARDS ON CORRECT AND ERROR RATE IN MATH FACTS FOR TWO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN WITH LEARNING DISABILITIE. International Journal of Special Education, 66-72.

Learning disabilities are neurologically based processing problems that can interfere with higher-level skills such as organization, time planning, abstract reasoning, long or short-term memory and attention. (Pardun, 2015)

A worksheet was provided with dots on both numbers and students computed the sum. At the end of each teaching session, data was collected and computed. Each student seemed to be hitting their mark, and achieving 80% accuracy. Maintenance sessions were also held on an individual basis. They were not completed as frequently as the teaching sessions. They were held every seven day for 10 to 15 minutes at a time. Ten problems were prepared via a worksheet and prepared the same as the teaching sessions. Generalization sessions were held last for all of the students. These were completed once per quarter, and were completed in different environments from the teaching sessions. These sessions were also 10 to 15 minutes long and were completed via a worksheet. In the generalization phase, this is when the dots were removed from the first number only. A pre and posttest was given to the students throughout the length of this study. The overall results of the study showed that Touch Math was a successful strategy to use with students with Autism in the teaching, maintenance, and generalization sessions. “At the baseline/ pretest assessment, students could not achieve the skill of adding two single-digit numbers to find a single-digit sum, but students were able to complete the task with 100% completion after teaching sessions (Yikmis, 2016).” Each student was able to complete the 100% accuracy, but at different rates. Success continued to be

Additionally, his writing letters, words, sentences, and paragraphs (Written Expression) skills fall within the Below Average range. He demonstrates the most difficulty with silently reading simple sentences (Silent Reading Fluency) as this skill falls within the Low range. Tyler receives remedial reading support services three times a week. He also sees a speech and language therapist to increase his phonological awareness skills. Although Tyler’s teacher reports that he has made gains in the areas of reading and handwriting, he is still performing below grade level expectations. In the area of math, Tyler’s basic math calculations (Math Computation) and addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division (Math Fluency) skills fall within the Below Average range.

Therefore a study was done on one specific child named Tarah who has been diagnosed with dual diagnose and mental retardation. The study was to determine first if having visual cues are good ideas, second was what other support strategies are there to help children who are dual diagnosed and last when are children who are dual diagnosed might want to monitor their own behavior. With all of these three ideas being studied the results were surprising. From the study the researchers first discovered that visual cues do indeed help immensely when they are being involved in helping special educated individuals with dual diagnosis (Drake). The next result from the study was that the researchers discovered that in addition to visual cues the visual schedules, rating scale and comic strips were all helpful with special educated individuals with dual diagnosis. One more surprising result was that that was when a student becomes more satisfied with how they are doing the more they would want to push their selves to the next

Rivera-Batiz (1992) stated, “Mathematical achievement of individuals strongly predicts their success later in life.” Watson & Gable (2012) mention that basic academic skill are fundamental to long-term academic success and, on a post-secondary level obtaining employment in a highly competitive job market.” National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS-2); ( Newman, et al., 2011) stated that more than three quarters of youth with disabilities test below the mean. Far less information is attainable on mathematics than reading instruction (Gregoire’ & Desoete, 2009). The same report mentioned that 45% of students with disabilities compared to 25% of their typical peers complete a below standard curriculum. What makes mathematics a strong

Watson and Gable (2012) suggests that further studies be designed to help unravel the complexities of mathematics learning disabilities (MLD). Current ways of testing contain flawed measurement, multiply learning disabilities, an a agreement of a definition of MLD. They also suggest that earlier diagnosis in early grade school would help narrow the educational gap. But that earlier intervention would also help. Disadvantage children are more likely to struggle in school. There is a great need for research based on high schools, the main focus of the mathematics literature is based on elementary schools and show that there is still approximately the same educational gap when the student is 18 as their was at 6. Schmidt and Burroughs (2015) said that one of the key factors is the inequality of all students being exposed to the math; therefore have an unequal opportunity to learn the same math as the

providing opportunities to develop facility with finger-pattern counting, so that 5 fingers and 10 fingers become anchors for the other numbers. Thus, students will recognize that they do not have to recount the 5 fingers on one hand in order to show 6 fingers; instead, they can automatically show the 5 fingers, say “five”, and then count on an additional finger from the other hand to make 6 (A Guide to effective instruction in mathematics, kindergarten to grade 3 : number sense and numeration, 2003).

Manipulatives in mathematics are practical apparatus that enable us to pick them up and manipulate them, such as; counters, multi-link cubes, digit cards, Cuisenaire rods, base ten, bead strings, place value counters and Dienes apparatus. They contain different aspects of mathematics

MP has a learning disability that affects her capability to understand numbers and learn math facts. She has poor comprehension of math symbols and has difficulty memorizing and organizing numbers. Evidence to support that she has this challenge consists of MP still counting on her fingers every single time she attempts a math problem and consistently confuses the math symbols (unsure what they are called or guesses as to what math operation would be used). This particular LD is referred to as dyscalculia, and is documented in her cumulative file.

Growing, developing and learning are the facts of life for all children. Each day children are faced with many new concepts and various challenges. Can you imagine how it feels for a child to face not only new challenges life has, but to face these challenges while living with a learning disability? These challenges are met not just when they begin school either. Students suffer from learning disabilities from the moment they begin learning, not when they start school. Learning disabilities are real and they affect millions of people. “One such disability that affects over approximately 15 percent of the total American population is dyslexia” ( Nosek 5).

On the other study conducted by Waldron, the results show that children with learning disabilities did poor on math compared to children without learning disabilities. Programs to help children with learning disabilities improve in math should be enforce in every school to help these children succeed. The dropout rate on children with learning disabilities was 14.1 percent on a longitudinal study conducted by Doren. The reason for dropouts was that children with learning disabilities felt they were not compatible academically as children without learning disabilities. They felt disadvantaged compared to the other children. This shows that children with learning disabilities are in greater danger to dropping out of school. Programs designated for children with learning disabilities to help them on their reading, math, and writing would drop the rate and help those students graduate

Other types of traditional applications include tutorial programs, simulation programs, and problem solving programs. Tutorial programs differ greatly from drill and practice software. Instead of re-teaching already learned information, these programs introduce new information, concepts and ideas. Simulation programs are visual simulations that help children with special needs learn how to make good choices. “These programs model reality and allow students to use their skills to make decisions and solve problems in a safe learning environment.” (Olson, 325) These programs are especially useful in preparing individuals with special needs for life after graduation. By being placed in different situations, children are able to gain knowledge that may help them later on in life. The great aspect of these programs is that the children do not need to leave the computer in order to gain useful outside knowledge. Problem solving programs are also very useful in educating kids with special needs. In these types of programs, children are given a problem and then required to take the necessary