Parent‐mediated numeracy intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder in Arabic families living in the UK

Abstract

Research on teaching mathematics to children with autism spectrum disorder using parents as mediators is limited. The purpose of the present study was to carry out an initial evaluation of an adapted numeracy programme with three children with autism spectrum disorder from Arabic families in the UK by training and supporting their parents to deliver the intervention over the course of an 8-week period. The three children's mathematical ability (on a standardised assessment) improved over the course of the intervention. Parents also described positive experiences of their training and of using the curriculum, especially mentioning how much their children had progressed in their understanding of mathematics. The study data show promising results and provide initial evidence that the adapted numeracy programme can be adapted for a home context and for teaching in Arabic.

Overcoming implementation challenges through using a train-the-trainer approach to teach numeracy in a special school setting

“…Through pilot work both during and following development, we have demonstrated positive outcomes for students with developmental disabilities receiving TEN-DD (Alallawi et al, 2022b;Apanasionok et al, 2021;Tzanakaki et al, 2014b). In a small randomised controlled trial (RCT) in a single special school (Tzanakaki et al, 2014b), 23 students were randomly allocated to TEN-DD (n ¼ 11) or a control group (n ¼ 12).…”

“…Through pilot work both during and following development, we have demonstrated positive outcomes for students with developmental disabilities receiving TEN-DD (Alallawi et al. , 2022b; Apanasionok et al.…”