The Effects of Teaching Subitizing on the Subitizing and Addition Skills of Kindergarten Students with Math Deficits

Research reveals that students experience academic failure in mathematics when they have not developed solid foundational math skills. Failure to comprehend concepts in mathematics is closely linked to the students’ deficits in number sense. When students lack number sense, challenges with computation are inevitable. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching subitizing skills using the TENS supplemental math curriculum on the subitizing and computational (i.e., addition) skills of students with math deficits in number sense. Explicit, ongoing instruction in subitizing provides young students with opportunities to develop a deeper understanding of number relationships. Students with strong number sense are more successful with learning math concepts in the early grades and more complex math concepts as they transition through the upper grades. A single subject A-B research design was used to examine the effects of this intervention. Four Kindergarten participants who demonstrated weaknesses in subitizing and basic addition were included in this study in a public school setting. Participants included one female and three males ranging from 6-7 years old. Each participant was involved in 48, 15-minute math exercises, 3 days each week for 16 weeks. Paraeducators administered a subitizing probe each day and an addition probe every other day immediately after completing each exercise. Probes continued to be administered for five additional days following the intervention to assess maintenance of the students’ subitizing and addition skills. Data indicated that students’ subitizing skills improved over time. While students’ accuracy in calculating basic facts remained relatively balanced, the total time taken to calculate the facts declined across time