Mathematical interventions for students with autism spectrum disorder: Recommendations for practitioners

• Published in: Research in developmental disabilities Vol. 105; p. 103744
• Main Authors: Cox, Sarah K., Jimenez, Bree A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2020
• Subjects: Autism spectrum disorder; Intellectual disability; Mathematics interventions; Mathematics interventions; Autism spectrum disorder; Intellectual disability
• ISSN: 0891-4222; 1873-3379
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2020.103744

•This manuscript provides recommendations for teaching mathematics to students with ASD, ID, and ASD with comorbid ID.•Several strategies have evidence of effectiveness for students with ASD, ID, and ASD with comorbid ID.•Teachers can utilize interventions that have evidence for multiple groups of students to increase instructional efficiency. Students with extensive support needs (ESN; i.e., autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, or both), have the ability to learn a variety of mathematical skills when taught using scientifically validated strategies (e.g., Bouck, Satsangi, Taber-Doughty, & Courtney, 2014; Creech-Galloway, Collins, Knight, & Bausch, 2013; Root, Browder, Saunders, & Lo, 2017). The urgency of teaching grade-aligned, mathematical standards to this population has significantly increased in the past two decades. Yet, in order to teach grade-aligned mathematics to individuals with disabilities, teachers need access to scientifically validated strategies that can be effective with this heterogeneous population. This article extends work by Fleury and colleagues (2014) by expanding their findings of interventions to teach academic content to students with ASD. We hope practitioners can use this article as a starting point when selecting scientifically validated interventions to teach mathematics to students with ESN. We highlight mathematics interventions from a variety of recent literature reviews of mathematics interventions for students with ASD, ID, or both to provide guidance for practitioners of what we know works for which students under what conditions. This article also seeks to bridge research to practice by offering recommendations for math educators serving students with disabilities in heterogeneous classrooms.