Improving the Mathematical Problem-Solving Skills of Students with Learning Disabilities

Abstract

Four students with learning disabilities, whose primary difficulty in solving simple word problems involved performing the wrong operation, were taught a strategy for comprehending the problem and devising an appropriate solution. Students learned to apply the strategy first to addition word problems, then to subtraction word problems. Upon completion of instruction, students' overall performance on mixed sets of addition and subtraction word problems improved, and they were much less likely to perform the wrong operation. Although the effects of instruction generalized to a different setting, maintenance of strategy effects was mixed, perhaps due to administration of the maintenance probes during summer vacation.