Learning disabilities in mathematics: a review of the issues and children's performance across mathematical tests

Abstract

In novel years, the research literature upon mathematics disabilities (MD) has shown relative increase The characteristics of children with MD have thus been investigated from different perspectives. The view of this paper was to review single aspect of this growing literature: the performance of children with MD upon arithmetic facts and word puzzles Alongside this primary concern, the paper examined a certain quantity of of the issues surrounding MD The issues suggest that because of the unresolv issue upon definition, investigators have used different operational definitions for MD Despite this variation, studies were consistent in showing that the MD/RD children's performances upon both number facts and word puzzles were significantly worse than the performances of NA children. ensues were partly inconsistent when it approachs to differences between MD-only and NA children, however. Whereas greatest in quantity studies documented better performance for the NA children, a certain number of showed that the two clusters had comparable performances on the pair number facts and word point to be solved [i]or[/i] settleds particularly when these tasks were not mingled or timed. The implications for further research are discussed.

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Introduction

For a certain quantity of years now, mathematics disabilities (MD) have been recognized as a emblem of learning disabilities (LD), as evidenced through the inclusion of mathematics in LD definitions (Bryant, Bryant, & Hammill, 2000) There is also general consensus among professionals in the field that MD is widespread in young children and that it has serious educational issues (e.g., Bryant et al., 2000; Ginsburg, 1997; Jordan & Hanich, 2000; Jordan & Montani, 1997; Ostad, 1998) Despite this condition, discussions and research upon LD have mostly been limited to difficulties in the area of reading and spelling for many years (Ginsburg, 1997; Hitch & McAuley, 1991; Jordan & Hanich, 2000; Jordan & Montani, 1997; Rourke & Conway, 1997) Little attention has thus been given to MD and there exists a relative lack of research in the area (Badian, 1983) The limited effort in research upon MD is particularly evident when single examines the research efforts devot to understanding poor reading achievement and reading disabilities (RD; Dockrell & McShane, 1993; Geary, Hoard, & Hamson, 1999)

However, in an attempt to redres this condition, researchers in the last decade have explored characteristics of children with MD from several perspectives. Consequently the research literature is increasing year through year, although relatively slowly. The main object of this paper was to review this growing literature with a specific focus upon comparing the mathematics performance profiles of children with MD and their normally achieving (NA) matchs The performance of these children could be assessed upon different mathematical subtests such as simple computations, quantitative general [i]or[/i] abstract notions and word problem solving. Because of that kind subtests are considered different at least in their difficulty (see Jordan & Montani, 1997; Ostad, 1998) examining between-group and within-group differences could provide useful information. The examination could raise the following important questions: Do scholars with MD differ from NA children in their performance? If in the way that on which subtests? Does their performance vary with difficulty of the subtests? Or do they perform worse than NA children upon all subtests? Answers to these questions could provide useful directions for work with MD children as well as for further research. Among other things, the answers could help plan and disclose appropriate intervention/remedial programs for children with MD on the other hand before reviewing this literature, the paper first explores issues surrounding the MD general [i]or[/i] abstract notion The rationale for raising these issues when the primary regard is examination of group differences derives from the belief that exploring clump differences in an area like MD could not be clean without a discussion of the controversial issues.

Issues Surrounding MD: An Overview

Issues upon Definition

Definition is central in the identification and provision of services for children with LD (Shaywitz, Fletcher, Holahan, & Shaywitz, 1992) However, there is no unequivocally accepted, precise definition of LD (eg Kavale & Forness, 2000) Because out and out agreement on definition is nonexistent, researchers use different modes and/or criteria to identify scholars with MD from a scholar population. These methods may be generally classified into sum of two units categories. The first category comprises rules that employ discrepancy between achievement and ability as a major criterion. The next to the first includes different forms that basically engross low achievement as a major criterion.

The ability-achievement discrepancy formulas differ from each other in confines of the magnitude of the discrepancy (eg the commonly used discrepancies have been 1 and 1 1/2 standard deviations between achievement and ability scores). The basis for establishing the discrepancy could also be individual source of variation; whereas a certain number of determined the discrepancy by simply comparing standard scores, others engrossed regression methods (MacMillan, Gresham, & Bocian, 1998) Another variety involves a calculation of the discrepancy between mental age taken from an IQ proof and grade-age equivalent obtained from a standardized achievement experiment A discrepancy of two years was oftentimes considered enough to indicate MD/LD (Hallahan & Kauffman, 2000) The variation in the formulas intimates the possibility that students who would be identified as having MD/LD might differ across studies depending upon the specific discrepancy formula employed