Teaching Math to Students With Disabilities: Education

Education: Teaching Math to Students With Disabilities

Working with students with disabilities (SWD) can be quite challenging, especially for teachers working on a full-time basis. Almost every classroom today has one or more students dealing with either an emotional, educational, or physical disability; and teachers are likely to find themselves looking for resources or information that would enable them teach all their students in the most effective way. There are numerous special-education websites from which teachers and instructors can obtain information or lessons on teaching their respective subjects. Five websites available to the math special education teacher have been discussed in the subsequent sections of this text.

Teacher Resources

Teachers Helping Teachers: http://www.pacificnet.net/~mandel/

This online resource provides teaching information for all teachers, with a 'Special Education' segment that provides a number of activities meant specifically for instilling basic conceptual skills in learners with special needs. The activities are submitted by teachers from different parts of the country, and include study skills, current events, geography, math, and reading lessons for learners in different grades (Starr). The 'Math Game' activity, for instance, helps students with learning disabilities to improve their problem-solving skills through sportsmanship and teamwork. There also are activities geared at improving the mathematical skills of the whole class; the Basic Practice Model, for instance, teaches mathematics to grades K-12 by way of independent, structured practice.

ii) Misunderstood Kids: Outside the Box: http://adhd.kids.tripod.com/teachers.html

This site is meant for not only students, but also parents of students with disabilities, with an 'Especially for Teachers' segment, and a linked 'Mathematics Education' section that presents, among other things, activities for bringing out the maximum potential in both special-needs and general students, and methods of designing lesson plans to incorporate those classroom activities (Starr).

iii) Center on Instructions: www.centeroninstruction.org

This site integrates several research-based resources on teaching modalities in the case of students with learning disabilities into one large collection on instructional techniques. Its 'Special Education' section leads to a linked 'Math Instruction and Intervention' segment, which provides information on, among other things, how to design and deliver intensive interventions in mathematics for K-12 grades, and how to incorporate these interventions into the teaching module so that students learn from each other and make the most out of their theoretical mathematical capabilities.

iv) The Access Center: www.k8accesscenter.org

This site identifies effective resource programs that provide the technical grip needed to build effective action out of reliable evidence. The 'Special Education' section presents information in the form of research studies on programs that could help instructors individualize behavioral, mathematics, and reading programs for students with learning disabilities; and methods of implementing the said programs to ensure persistent learning.

v) LD Online: www.ldonline.org

This site focuses on the instruction of students with ADHD and learning disabilities. It includes an 'Especially for Educators' section, and therein a 'Teaching Mathematics' segment that provides a number of articles with information on the components of effective mathematics instruction; software for mathematics instructions; technology-supported math instruction for learners with disabilities; and a 'Number Sense' activity for assisting an integrated class realize its full arithmetic potential.

Student Websites

There also are a number of websites that are specifically geared towards assisting students with or without disabilities at all grades deal with math topics that they do not understand. Five of these have been outlined below.

i) The Alberta Government Website: http://www.learnalberta.ca/Home.aspx

This site provides registered users with easily understandable resources/reading materials and assessment questions on lesson topics of their choice. A new user has to register for an account, in which they provide information on, among other things, their grade. Once the account has been created, the user logs in and selects a lesson topic from study skills, current events, geography, math, or reading. The site then avails relevant books and simplified reading materials on the requested topic, and a set of accompanying assessment questions.

ii) The NCTM site: http://illuminations.nctm.org/

This online resource provides a number of interactive applets that make it possible for students to learn through practice. The applets range from operations and numbers, to profitability & data analysis as well as measurement, geometry, and algebra. The site avails simplified resources and gauges the students' understanding by getting them to take part in interactive math games and quizzes.

iii) Math.com: http://www.math.com/

This online resource avails games, practice, and online tutorials on math concepts at all grades (Oldham County Schools 2 of 3). Subjects offered include calculus, statistics, trigonometry, geometry, algebra, pre-algebra, everyday math, as well as basic math. By way of an online tutorial, students receive assistance on their homework, and are administered with study and test preparation tips, references, as well as formulas and tables.