Teaching Math Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Teaching Math - Essay ExampleLearning disabilities (LD) sombrely interfere with students achievement in mathematics thus putting them at a higher risk of having problems in meeting the imposed academic standards as compared to the normal student population. Thus, virtually recent studies report that between 4-7% of the school advance population experiences some form of math difficulty as a result of LDs (Fuchs & Compton, 2005). Granted the progressively strict graduation requirements imposed on high school seniors in mathematics the risk is nevertheless greater these days than ever before. The lack of specialized teacher training, coupled with insufficient amounts and poor handiness of effective study material and traditional LD-friendly curricula contributes substantially to the already huge instructional issues the average US students with a learning disability must face (Miller & Mercer,1997).Various behavioral disorders (BD) such as precaution deficit/hyperactivity disor der (ADD/ADHD), conduct disorder (CD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) in students represent another exceedingly important problem in terms of teaching and learning mathematics. Thus, ADD/ADHD is one of the almost commonly met behavioral disorders in the U.S. approximately 7.8% of children and adolescents aged from 4 to 17 are diagnosed with it (Chang, 2005). The base preponderance of ODD is alike estimated within the range of 1.7% -almost 10% (Rey, 1993). These behavioral disorders are also commonly associated with serious academic problems, including problems in learning mathematics (Todd et al, 1999). In fact, it will not be an exaggeration to nominate that BDs are almost always associated with LDs. Thus, one of the latest studies in this field reports that 71% of children with ADHD also have a LD and 26% of children with ADHD have a specific math disability (Mayes & Calhoun, 2006). However, disdain the growing recognition that students with some form of LD or BD hav e unique learning needs, up to today the majority of such students are taught without any reference to their needs, including those in learning mathematics, in the general education classroom. One possible reason for such disappointing situation is lack of literature on teaching math for students with LD and BD some researchers observe that the literature on teaching math is scarce even when compared with the alert research in the field of teaching other subjects such as language and reading - a situation that is hardly acceptable considering the importance of mathematics in modern world (Steele, 2004). The purpose of this topic is to provide an overview of the most interesting works in the field of teaching math for students with LD. Literature redirect examination There is a solid body of literature exploring definitions, diagnostic criteria, and many other formal aspects of LD with some authors focusing specifically on mathematics (Dockrell & McShane, 1993 Adelman & Taylor, 1 993 Lerner, 1993 Butterworth, Cipolotti & Warrington, 1996). Similarly, a serious body of research is dedicated