Teaching intellectually disabled students addition through a multisensory approach

This study was designed to see if children with intellectual disabilities could be taught to add pairs of single-digit numbers using the Touch Math method. Three intellectually disabled students who could add only by using physical representations of numbers were selected for the study. A multiple-probe design across the 3 students was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. The intervention consisted of a three-step addition program that was planned to teach students to add by counting the faded touch points of the smaller addend starting from the larger addend. The data show that the 3 children were able to master the program and to retain the Touch Math method from 1 to 5.5 months following completion of the program. Suggestions for future research and for teachers are discussed