Maintenance in Mathematics for Individuals with Intellectual Disability: A Systematic Review of Literature

Area of Science:

• Special Education
• Developmental Psychology
• Mathematics Education

Background:

• Growing attention on mathematics education for students with disabilities.
• Existing research predominantly focuses on skill acquisition rather than skill maintenance.
• Limited understanding of effective strategies for long-term mathematical skill retention in individuals with intellectual disability (ID).

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and analyze research on mathematics instruction for individuals with ID from 1975 to 2018.
• To identify the extent to which studies include a maintenance phase for mathematical skills.
• To evaluate the methodological rigor of studies incorporating a maintenance phase and identify effective instructional practices.

Main Methods:

• Conducted a comprehensive literature search for studies on mathematics instruction for individuals with ID.
• Included 135 studies meeting initial criteria, with a focus on 53 studies that incorporated a maintenance phase.
• Performed a rigorous methodological evaluation, selecting 22 studies for final analysis.

Main Results:

• Only 39.2% of reviewed studies (53 out of 135) included a maintenance phase.
• Significant lack of consensus on standardized procedures for conducting maintenance phases (e.g., duration, intervals).
• Prompting was identified as an evidence-based practice for supporting math skill maintenance in individuals with ID.

Conclusions:

• There is a critical need for more research focusing on the maintenance of mathematical skills in individuals with ID.
• Prompting is a validated instructional method for promoting skill retention.
• Explicit instruction, time delay, feedback, and the virtual-representational-abstract sequence show potential as evidence-based practices for maintenance.