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Journal of Learning Disabilities
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Teaching Students With LD to Use Diagrams to Solve Mathematical Word Problems

Delinda van Garderen

University of Missouri-Columbia, vangarderend{at}missouri.edu

This study examined the effectiveness of instruction focused on teaching students with learning disabilities (LD) to solve 1- and 2-step word problems of varying types. Three students with LD in Grade 8 participated in the study. During the treatment, students received instruction in diagram generation and a strategy that incorporates diagrams as a part of the procedure to solve word problems. The results indicated that all students improved in the number of diagrams they used and in their ability to generate diagrams. Their word problem solving performance increased. Moreover, the students generated and used diagrams to solve other types of problems. Overall, the students were very satisfied with the instruction and would continue to use the diagrams and the strategy to solve word problems in other classroom settings.

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Journal of Learning Disabilities, Vol. 40, No. 6, 540-553 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/00222194070400060501
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This Article
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