Three strategies are discussed below.
Strategy 1. Seven Steps Rule
Students with learning disabilities in math should learn and eventually
memorize the following cognitive steps necessary for solving word
problems:
- Read (what it says)
- Paraphrase (how you want to say it)
- Visualize (picture, table, or equation?)
- Plan (what’s the best way to solve it?)
- Solve (apply the rules)
- Check (are the steps correct?)
- Reflect (did you follow the six steps above?)
First, the teacher models the steps using problems on an overhead
projector.
Second, students with learning disabilities in math model the
steps in class, taking turns to elicit more interaction and repetition.
Third, students with learning disabilities in math can work either
individually or in pairs to increase retention.
Step 7, Reflect, is a metacognitive strategy. It forces students
with learning disabilities in math to stand back and check to see
if they have carefully thought through a problem using the six
steps. At the start, it might help to provide students with a sheet
consisting of the strategies listed either in row or in column.
Students can then mark off each step by a check mark as they solve
a problem to indicate that they have gone through the steps.
- Personalized Error Checklist Strategy
First, the teacher should begin by handing out a worksheet of
ten to fifteen problems for students with learning disabilities
in math to do. The problems should be similar and should focus
on a particular mathematical concept or process.
Second, the teacher explicitly models how such problems are solved.
Students are then asked to accomplish the worksheet within a given
time frame. Correct answers are assigned two points and the points
could be used in exchange for prizes.
Third, the teacher then collects the worksheets and grades them.
The teacher then generates a list of errors for each student. When
the worksheets are returned, each student gets two sheets each.
The first sheet is the corrected worksheet and the second sheet
is a list of errors.
Fourth, the teacher gives the class another worksheet that is
very similar to the ones they did earlier. Then, they are requested
to accomplish the worksheet. Using the checklist of errors that
each student has, the student goes over each problem solved, putting
a plus mark (with a plus 2) on correct items and a minus mark on
incorrect items. They are then asked to redo wrong problems, putting
the correct solution next to the incorrect one.
When each student has achieved the target success rate, the error
checklist is removed.
3. Self-Instruction Prompts Strategy
Students will be asked to generate self-instruction statements
whenever they are solving problems. The statements are broken down
into two types:
- Work habits
- Task-specific habits
Work habits pertain to general behavior and action that positively
contributes to successfully accomplishing a problem. For instance: “I
need to focus all the time.”
Task-specific habits pertain to mathematical behavior and action
or personalized steps that are needed to successfully solve a problem.
For instance: If the problems involve combining polynomials, one
self-instruction could be, “Are the two terms that I am combining
similar?” or “Need to make sure I only combine terms
whose variables look exactly the same.” Or it could be a
series of steps such as: “First I need to …. Second,
I have to … .”
This strategy can be institutionalized slowly and usually at the
start of each new lesson. Teachers model this strategy first for
students for a particular problem. Students are then given problems
that will allow them to develop self-instruction statements. The
teacher can then have a whole-class discussion on each type so
that everybody in the class gets to benefit as well. Students can
keep the prompts until such a time when they can make the statements
on their own without assistance.
