Math Interventions for Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder A Best-Evidence Synthesis

• Published in: Exceptional children Vol. 82; no. 4; pp. 443 - 462
• Main Authors: King, Seth A., Lemons, Christopher J., Davidson, Kimberly A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.07.2016; Sage Publications, Inc; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Adolescents; Applied mathematics; Autism; Best Practices; Children; Comorbidity; Correlation; Demographics; Design; Developmental disabilities; Disability; Disease control; Evaluation; Evidence Based Practice; Intellectual Disability; Intervention; Learning disabled; Literature Reviews; Mathematics; Mathematics Achievement; Mathematics Instruction; Mathematics Skills; Methods; Outcomes of Education; Peer tutoring; Pervasive Developmental Disorders; Population; Program Effectiveness; Quality standards; Researchers; Response to intervention (Education); Skills; Special education; Statistics; Students with disabilities; Study and teaching; Teaching Methods; United States
• ISSN: 0014-4029; 2163-5560
• DOI: 10.1177/0014402915625066

Educators need evidence-based practices to assist students with disabilities in meeting increasingly rigorous standards in mathematics. Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are increasingly expected to demonstrate learning of basic and advanced mathematical concepts. This review identifies math intervention studies involving children and adolescents with ASD and describes participant characteristics, methodological features, interventions, target behaviors, and related outcomes. Included studies met the design standards of the What Works Clearinghouse (2014). Studies focused on functional and computational skills for students with a comorbid diagnosis of intellectual disability (ID). Visual analysis confirmed a functional relation between evaluated interventions and mathematics outcomes in 71% of cases. Interventions generally yielded moderate to large effect sizes. Large confidence intervals were obtained across effects. More high-quality research including students with higher-functioning ASD is required to fully address the needs of this population.