Systematic Instruction of Early Math Skills for Preschoolers at Risk for Math Delays

Abstract

Early math instruction is the subject of increasing attention by early childhood researchers. There is evidence to suggest that early math skills are highly predictive of later academic achievement but that there are disparities in early math skills among young children. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a systematic instructional procedure on early math skills with two preschoolers who were at risk for math delays. Target math skills were selected based on the individual needs of each child and included sorting, patterning, and shape manipulation. The instructional procedure was effective for helping two children acquire early math skills, with a functional relation demonstrated for each participant. There were mixed results for generalization and maintenance. Contributions to the literature, limitations, and implications for research and practice are discussed. Keywords at risk for developmental delays/disabilities, disability populations, intervention strategies, single-subject designs, experimental studies, research methodologies Research Question 1: Is a systematic modeling and prompting procedure effective in helping preschoolers acquire, generalize, and maintain discrete early math skills? Research Question 2: What is the social validity of the intervention and its effects? Method Participants Three children were recommended by their classroom teacher as meeting the following inclusion criteria: (a) 36 to

Systematic Modeling and Prompting to Teach Math Skills to Preschoolers With Disabilities

“…We replicated our previous study (Hardy & Hemmeter, 2019) to generate additional evidence regarding the efficacy of the DPP for children with disabilities or math delays. The research questions we addressed were as follows:…”

“…This criterion-referenced assessment was used to determine potential skills to target for instruction. The EMSI has been used in previous research for similar purposes (see Hardy & Hemmeter, 2019), although its psychometric properties have not yet been studied.…”

“…In intervention sessions, modeling and prompting were delivered using the DPP (Hardy et al, 2017; Hardy & Hemmeter, 2019; see the online supplemental materials, Appendix 1). This procedure consists of two types of trials—demonstration and practice.…”

“…Research on intensive (i.e., systematic and individualized) interventions to increase the early math skills of preschoolers with disabilities or delays in math is presented in Table 1. Across these studies, two interventions were used, constant time delay (CTD) and the demonstration-practice procedure (DPP; Hardy et al, 2017; Hardy & Hemmeter, 2019). Participants included preschoolers with math delays, speech and language delays, developmental delay, and autism.…”

Comparison of Special Education Preschool Program and Inclusive Preschool Program for Math Achievement

“…The topic of early math achievement has received much scientific attention recently and one of the reasons for that is that early math skills are highly predictive of later academic achievement (Hardy & Hemmeter, 2019;Sarama & Clements, 2009). Early math competencies are also highly predictive of later math achievement (Jordan, Kaplan, Ramineni, & Locuniak, 2009).…”