Math and students with disabilities.

Is it possible for students with disabilities to learn math like children without disabilities? Yes, according to CEC, Council for Exceptional Children, children with disabilities can learn problem solving in math and grasp the concept as well. In the article it says: "New developments include mechanisms to identify children who will have difficulty with math in the early grades, techniques to help students problem solve, moving from computational math to a more conceptual framework, and ensuring that students with disabilities are prepared to tackle advanced subjects such as geometry and algebra - even if they haven't mastered all the computational elements of mathematics." This sounds amazing, it seems like people are always giving up on special needs children and it is such a shame. To know that it is possible for them to learn the same concepts in math as non-disabled children is very heart warming. It is also said however that teachers will have to change their approach to teaching math to children with disabilities. John Cawley of University of Connecticut states, "They will need to place more emphasis on understanding the basic principals of mathematics, as well as making the subject accessible and meaningful to students." Although it sounds silly that just by changing something so simple can make a difference, it is found that a lot of special education teachers are finding this change rewarding. It is found that students with disabilities are doing just as well as their counterparts and are becoming more confident in math. The teachers who are changing their methods are still staying in the guidelines  of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Principles and Standards for School Mathematics.

     There are strategies to follow when you see a student with disabilities struggling with math. This is because students with disabilities, "....may have difficulty reading the problem and/or they may just take the numbers and add them up, disregarding what is to be solved." It is best to help the student first identify what time of problem they are trying to solve by concentrating on the specific information in the math problem, a good way to do so is have them draw a picture. Visuals can be a great way for students with disabilities to better understand a problem. This is actually true with anyone trying to understand a math problem.Another method would be to introduce the word problem on video, this would allow the child to visually see the problem and play it as many times as needed. John Woodward states : "we no longer live in a computational, paper and pencil world, we must base math instruction on conceptualization. He recommends using visualization, number lines, and other manipulatives to help students understand place value, fractions, and even algebra. That way, students can see what's really going on when we do division or positive and negative numbers." This is a very important aspect, I believe everyone, not only students with disabilities, need visual aides to best understand the concept that is being presented.  If you want to read more on the article I have been talking about click the following link: students with disabilities and math