Using the multisensory approach of touch math to teach basic mathematical operations to students with significant disabilities

The current study examines how the multisensory approach of the Touch Math program is used in a school that educates students with significant disabilities to improve their basic operation addition skills. The students who participated in this study struggled with traditional teaching of basic operation skills, and they were having difficulty maintaining fact knowledge, with modifications to their current instruction. The study was conducted in a school in Atco, New Jersey over an eight-week period. The current study used baseline assessments, which the two single digit addends without touch points, to determine the student participant's individual single digit addend knowledge. Then the students explicitly taught the multisensory approach of how to use touch points to count up and all to create a sum of two single digit addends. After being taught how to use the touch points to help add two single digit addends, students were given post-intervention assessments, with touch points on the two single digit addends to determine their individual progress and possible improvement in basic operation addition skills. Although an individual's results varied, all students showed improvement in their basic operation addition facts, by using the multisensory approach from the Touch Math program to add two single digit addend.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A. Learning Disabilities

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Language, Literacy, and Special Education

Year dc:date.available

2014

Author dc:creator

• Hood, Rebecca

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kuder, S Jay

• Arithmetic--Study and teaching; Learning disabilities
• Special Education and Teaching

Repository record dc:identifier

https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/544

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:rdw.rowan.edu:etd-1543