Enhancing Mathematical Problem Solving for Students with Disabilities

Approximately 5% of the school-age population experiences mathematics disability (Badian, 1983; Gross-Tsur, Manor, & Shalev, 1996; Kosc, 1974). Despite its prevalence, math disability has been the focus of less systematic study than has reading disability (cf. Rasanen & Ahonen, 1995). This relative neglect is unfortunate, because mathematics skill is important for school success and accounts for employment, income, and work productivity even after intelligence and reading have been controlled for (Rivera-Batiz, 1992). Despite this relative neglect, important work on math disability has been accomplished over the past 20 years. The literature describes the functional arithmetic difficulties of students with math disability and demonstrates how cognitive deficits are associated with the development of arithmetic cognition (see Geary, 1993, for a review). This literature has, nevertheless, focused disproportionately on the acquisition of basic facts. When problem solving has been studied (e.g., Jordan & Hanich, 2000), it has been confined largely to one-step word problems involving addition and subtraction number facts. In schools, such problems are relegated to the firstand secondgrade curriculum. Moreover, such problems fail to represent real-world mathematical problem solving (MPS). For these reasons, it is difficult to make generalizations from the math disability literature to math disability as it occurs in schools and to the kinds of mathematical competence required in the real world. Therefore, a focus on mathematics competence beyond arithmetic and arithmetic story problems is required to understand, prevent, and remediate math disability in its many forms. One reason for a disproportionate focus on basic facts and simple arithmetic story problems is belief in a hierarchical math sequence, where mastery of fundamental skills is Enhancing Mathematical Problem Solving for Students with Disabilities