A study of planning and mathematics instruction for students with learning disabilities

The purpose of this study was to extend research in training the use of cognitive strategies or planning to mathematical computation for 4 students with specific learning disabilities. A cognitive education method utilized in previous research was duplicated. It was expected that students would find the instruction differentially effective based upon their initial scores on a measure of planning. Using the Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, Successive model as a base, a cognitive instruction which facilitated planning was provided to two students with low scores on planning, obtained using an experimental version of the Das-Naglieri Cognitive Assessment System, and two students with average planning scores. All students completed three sessions of baseline and seven sessions of cognitive instruction in addition and multiplication. During the cognitive instruction phase, 5-min. sessions of self-reflection and verbalization of strategies about the mathematics problems were conducted after each initial 10-min. session of mathematics. Scores on addition problems showed that all students improved. On multiplication, however, 2 students with low planning scores improved considerably but not 2 with higher planning scores. Implications are provided.