Teaching Basic Number Skills to Students with a Moderate Intellectual Disability

Five students with a moderate intellectual disability from a Sydney school for the disabled had repeatedly failed to master early number skills when instructed using DISTAR Arithmetic 1 (D.1.). An intervention based on Discrimination Learning Theory (D.L.T.) was devised and student performance across the two instructional methods compared, using a multiple baseline across subjects design. The D.L.T. intervention covered the same content as the D.1. program using individualized instruction in a group setting. The instruction did not require a fast paced verbal student response. Daily measures of academic engagement and mastery of skills were greater during the D.L.T. intervention.