Responsiveness to Mathematical Problem-Solving Instruction

• Published in: Journal of Learning Disabilities
• Main Authors: Fuchs, Lynn S., Fuchs, Douglas, Prentice, Karin
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 2004
• Subjects: Terranova
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/00222194040370040201; http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/00222194040370040201

This study assessed responsiveness to a 16-week mathematical problem-solving treatment as a function of students' risk for disability. Among 301 third graders, TerraNova scores were used to categorize students as at risk for both reading and mathematics disability (MDR/RDR; 20 control and 12 experimental), at risk for mathematics disability only (MDR-only; 5 and 8), at risk for reading disability only (RDR-only; 12 and 15), or not at risk (NDR; 60 and 69). Interactions among at-risk status, treatment, and time showed that as a function of treatment, MDR/RDR, MDR-only, and RDR-only students improved less than NDR students on computation and labeling, and MDR/RDR students improved less than all other groups on conceptual underpinnings. Exploratory regressions suggested that MDR/RDR students' math deficits or their underlying mechanisms explained a greater proportion of variance in responsiveness to problem-solving treatment than reading deficits or their underlying mechanisms.