Helping children with Mathematics learning difficulties : an intervention programme carried out with children with mathematics learning difficulties only and children with both Mathematics learning difficulties and reading difficulties

Abstract

Although Mathematics Learning Difficulties (MLD) are known to affect 5%-8% of any population (Geary, 2004), when compared to Reading Difficulties (RD), MLD are yet limitedly understood. Furthermore, recent emerging studies within this field focus mainly on the causes of MLD, mainly neurobiological ones (Nieder & Dehaene, 2009) with little emphasis on what intervention ‘works’ with learners with MLD. The main research aim of this study was to look at two groups of learners: those with only MLD and others with both MLD and RD. The study explored which strategies were effective with both groups. A subsidiary research question investigated whether these two groups of learners had the same mathematical profile pre-intervention whilst another explored how similar the profile of the learners assessed with dyscalculia was to that of the other participants. The study looked into each participants’ nature and degree of MLD. The last subsidiary research question investigated whether mathematics anxiety was another difficulty experienced by the participants. Vygotsky’s theories concerning the notions of ‘internalisation’, ‘cultural tools’, the ‘zone of proximal development (ZPD)’ and the role of the ‘more knowledgeable other (MKO)’ underpinned the study. The study was mainly qualitative but had two phases. Phase 1 involved finding local norms for Grade 5 (9 - 10-year-old) boys attending Catholic Church schools in Malta because the participants of Phase 2 had these demographic characteristics. Since no numeracy assessment had yet been standardised locally, Phase 1 ensured that the right participants were chosen for Phase 2. Phase 2 consisted of multiple-case intervention studies. An intervention programme was carried out with six learners on a one-to-one basis. The programme used the structure provided by the intervention programme Catch Up® Numeracy and was carried out for 15 minutes, twice weekly over a period of six months. Class observations and interviews with the pupils’ teachers and parents were also carried out. The data was analysed by looking at both predetermined themes, including Tharp’s (1993) seven modes of facilitating learning, and other emerging ones. The findings showed that the intervention programme was beneficial in supporting the learners to internalise the targeted numeracy components and in increasing confidence levels. The programme’s impact was not determined by whether the learner was in the MLD only or MLD and RD group, but possibly by other domain-general abilities. The analysis gave rise to a pedagogical model that shows which strategies seemed to work with the participants. The model illustrates how MKO-driven strategies, Learner-driven strategies and Tools-assisted strategies come together in a symbiotic relationship to facilitate the internalisation of numeracy components.