Teaching Addition to Students with Moderate Disabilities Using Video Prompting

Academic performance for students with moderate to severe disabilities falls far behind their typically developing peers and puts them at risk for continued dependence after school ends. Video prompting is an evidence-based practice that has been used to teach various non-academic skills; however, few studies have focused on using video prompting to teach academic skills other than reading. This study used a delayed multiple baseline across students design to evaluate the use of video prompting to teach single- and double-digit addition to three students with moderate disabilities. Results indicated that all three students improved their accurate completion of addition problems immediately upon introduction of the video prompting intervention. In addition, all three students completely faded the use of the videos and generalized completing addition problems to another setting. Social validity of the intervention was high across all participants, their families, and their teacher

Diagnosing Expertise: Human Capital, Decision Making and Performance Among Physicians

Expert performance is often evaluated assuming that good experts have good outcomes. We examine expertise in medicine and develop a model that allows for two dimensions of physician performance: Decision making and procedural skill. Better procedural skill increases the use of intensive procedures for everyone, while better decision making results in a reallocation of procedures from fewer low risk to high risk cases. We show that poor diagnosticians can be identified using administrative data and that improving decision making improve birth outcomes by reducing C-section rates at the bottom of the risk distribution and increasing them at the top of the distribution

The Effects of Using Direct Instruction and the Equal Additions Algorithm to Promote Subtraction with Regrouping skills of Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders with Mathematics Difficulties

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD) display severe social and academic deficits that can adversely affect their academic performance in mathematics and result in higher rates of failure throughout their schooling compared to other students with disabilities (U.S. Department of Education, 2005; Webber & Plotts, 2008). Furthermore, students with E/BD are at a greater risk of being served in more exclusionary and restrictive settings compared to their peers as a result of their poor social skills and chronic disruptive behaviors (Gagnon & Leone, 2005; Furney, Hasazi, Clark-Keefe, & Hartnett, 2003; U.S. Department of Education, 2005; Whorton, Siders, Fowler, & Naylor, 2000). This is of great concern as students with E/BD often receive lower grades, fail more classes, have higher drop-out rates, have fewer employment opportunities, and have increased involvement in the legal system (Bullock & Gable, 2006; Cullinan & Sabornie, 2004; Jolivette, Stichter, Nelson, Scott, & Liaupsin, 2000; Kauffman, 2001). The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of the equal additions algorithm on subtraction with regrouping on the subtraction performance of fourth-grade students with E/BD and mathematics difficulties. The equal additions algorithm was taught using a direct instruction technique. This study investigated 3 participants at the fourth grade level in a residential treatment facility which serves students with E/BD. A multiprobe multiple baseline across participants design was used for this study. Assessments used for this study included (a) Woodcock Johnson III (WJIII), (b) the ENRIGHT, (c) a student questionnaire, (d) baseline probes, and (e) an error analysis student profile. Data was analyzed by visual analysis. The results suggest that when the equal additions algorithm was systematically implemented students were able to successfully complete subtraction with regrouping problems and errors dramatically decreased. Limitations and future for research directions are discussed

Effects of explicit subtraction instruction on fifth grade students with learning disabilities

This study involved an investigation of the effects of strategy instruction integrated with the concrete-representational-abstract teaching sequence on students with learning disabilities. A multiple probe design across subjects with one replication was used in this study. Two sets of data were analyzed to determine effectiveness of the independent variable (intervention lessons). The first data set consisted of pre and posttest percentage scores and the second data set consisted of baseline, intervention, and maintenance probe scores that were collected throughout the study per the parameters of a multiple probe design. The probe scores were plotted in line graph format and analyzed using visual analysis related to level, trend, and variability of the data points. A total of six fifth grade students (five males and one female) with learning disabilities participated in this study. The participants ranged in age from 10 years 10 months to 12 years 0 months. Each participant met the State of Nevada Administrative Code eligibility criteria for specific learning disabilities and failed to meet their school district\u27s standards related to subtraction with regrouping. The six participants were divided into two triads. The students\u27 learning disability teacher staggered the introduction of the scripted intervention lessons according to the parameters of a multiple probe design. Each intervention lesson contained pedagogically sound systematic and explicit instruction which included (a) an advance organizer, (b) a describe and model stage of instruction, (c) a guided practice stage of instruction, (d) an independent practice stage of instruction, and (e) a problem solving stage of instruction. Additionally, the lessons followed the concrete-representation-abstract teaching sequence. The principal and student investigator observed 20% of the total lessons to ensure that the learning disability teacher implemented the lessons with fidelity. The percentage of agreement between the two observers was 99% indicating a high level of implementation fidelity. Interscorer reliability was established before analyzing the data sets. The learning disability teacher scored all pre-, post-, and maintenance tests for the participants and the student investigator scored 20% of the pre-, post-, and maintenance tests. Interscorer reliability was determined to be 100%. A comparison of pre- and posttests revealed that participants\u27 performance increased on the posttests. As a group, the participants raised their total number of correct responses from an average of 6 correct answers to 14.3 correct answers out of a total of 20 computation subtraction problems that required regrouping to solve. Participants also achieved an average of 21.6 more correct digits from pretests scores to posttest scores on a fluency measure that contained computation subtraction problems that required regrouping. Participants increased the number of correct responses on average by 4.3 on word problems that required subtraction with regrouping skills to be applied. Participants maintained these new skills over time and indicated high levels of satisfaction with regard to the mathematics intervention program. Finally, implications of the current study and suggestion for future research are discussed. With regard to the ongoing probe data, all six participants demonstrated an increase in level from baseline condition to intervention condition. This increase in level was sustained during the maintenance condition for all six participants. All six participants demonstrated a relatively stable flat trend during the intervention condition. With regard to variability, Participant 1 was the only one who demonstrated little variability during intervention condition. Participants 2,3,4,5, and 6 each demonstrated notable variability during the intervention condition and had to repeat 2 to 6 sessions in which they did not attain mastery criteria on their first try

Watching You: Systematic Federal Surveillance of Ordinary Americans

To combat terrorism, Attorney General John Ashcroft has asked Congress to "enhance" the government's ability to conduct domestic surveillance of citizens. The Justice Department's legislative proposals would give federal law enforcement agents new access to personal information contained in business and school records. Before acting on those legislative proposals, lawmakers should pause to consider the extent to which the lives of ordinary Americans already are monitored by the federal government. Over the years, the federal government has instituted a variety of data collection programs that compel the production, retention, and dissemination of personal information about every American citizen. Linked through an individual's Social Security number, these labor, medical, education and financial databases now empower the federal government to obtain a detailed portrait of any person: the checks he writes, the types of causes he supports, and what he says "privately" to his doctor. Despite widespread public concern about preserving privacy, these data collection systems have been enacted in the name of "reducing fraud" and "promoting efficiency" in various government programs. Having exposed most areas of American life to ongoing government scrutiny and recording, Congress is now poised to expand and universalize federal tracking of citizen life. The inevitable consequence of such constant surveillance, however, is metastasizing government control over society. If that happens, our government will have perverted its most fundamental mission and destroyed the privacy and liberty that it was supposed to protect

Neuropsychological functioning and chronic methadone use:a systematic review and meta-analysis

The authors would like to thank the NHS Fife Research and Development Department for supporting this project.Introduction: There is a presumption that neurocognition is commonly impaired in chronicmethadone exposed individuals (CM) when compared with healthy controls (HP).Additionally, it remains unclear if short term (< 1 year) abstinence (AP) is associated with an altered cognitive profile when compared with CM. Method: A random effect model approach was used on data assembled into the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis programme.Cohen’s d effect sizes and a significance levels of p<0.01 were calculated for each domain. Results: Data from a total cohort of 1063 CM, 412 AP and 879 HP participants, from 23 independent studies indicate global impairments in neurocognitive function in CM relative to HP participants. The smaller body of evidence comparing CM to AP participants is inconclusive. Conclusion: Methodological issues such as small sample sizes, heterogeneity and poor quality limited the interpretation of the results and does not address whether the observed impairments reflect co-morbid functioning, methadone-related sedation and/or other factors. Only higher quality longitudinal studies will permit confident interpretation of the results observed in this meta-analysis.PostprintPeer reviewe

Investigating the effects of a combined problem-solving strategy for students with learning difficulties in mathematics

Many students, specifically those with learning difficulties in mathematics, struggle when presented with word problems to solve. With this in mind, the purpose of this research was to examine the effects of the READER Strategyon word problem performance of students with mathematics disabilities and students who are at-risk to fail in mathematics. There were two parts to this research. Part One was implemented using a single-subject design (i.e., multiple-probe across participants) and Part Two was implemented using a group design (i.e., 2 x 4 factorial design). The single-subject design included three participants identified as having mathematics disabilities. There were two males (i.e., one Hispanic fifthgrader and one Black/African-American fifth grader) and one female (i.e., Hispanic fourthgrader). The group design included 21 participants who were receiving Tier 2 instruction within a Response-to-Intervention program (i.e., 11 thirdgraders in the treatment group and 10 thirdgraders in the comparison group). Of these 21 participants 2 were Asian, 2 were Biracial, 6 were Black, 9 were Hispanic, 1 was Pacific Islander, and 1 was White). The single-subject participants and the treatment group participants received 17 mathematics researcher-developed lessons that involved the use of a combined problem-solving strategy designed to assist students with mathematical word problems. The instructional method used in these lessons combined the use of teacher-directed explicit instruction, a graduated word problem sequence, schema-based diagrams, the concrete-representational-abstract sequence, and the use of a math word problem strategy (i.e., READER). The comparison group participants received 17 mathematics lessons from the standard school curricula for students receiving Tier 2 intervention within the Response-to-Intervention Program at the participating school. These lessons were designed to assist students with mathematical word problems and involved the use of teacher-directed explicit instruction, hands-on manipulative devices, student exploration, and whole group discussion and review. The Tier 2 intervention lessons presented to the comparison group were also scripted by the publisher to maintain fidelity of treatment. The results related to Part One of the research (i.e., single-subject design) revealed that students with mathematics disabilities improved their abilities to solve mathematical word problems after receiving the combined problem solving strategy (i.e., READER). The results related to Part Two of the research (i.e., group design) revealed similar findings. Students receiving Tier 2 intervention within a Response-to-Intervention program also improved their abilities to solve mathematical word problems. Additionally, those same students were able to maintain and generalize their abilities to solve mathematical word problems two weeks after receiving the intervention

Developing use of strategy in childhood mental addition

The aim of this research was to look at the strategies used by children when doing mental addition problems of the varying levels of complexity. An authentic arithmetic task was designed for use in a school environment. The central aim was to study developing fluency in mental arithmetic as achieved through recruiting various strategies into solving more complex problems than those studied by existing research. The nature of mental addition strategies was inferred from children's solution times when doing sequences of sums. Three studies were carried out on 7–11 year-old children from two local schools. [Continues.

Implementation Planning as a Proactive Approach to Treatment Integrity Maintenance of an Academic Intervention

Reform in educational policy and federal legislation has placed an emphasis on data collection pertaining to student outcomes in the academic setting. In response, school systems have shifted to multi-tiered frameworks that utilize varying levels of support through the implementation of evidence-based interventions. Data-based decision making determined by student success within these interventions is, at best, inconclusive without the collection of treatment integrity data. However, present evidence-based methods of improving treatment integrity are reactive and also require time and staffing demands that may not be feasible in the school setting. The present research aimed to investigate Computer-Guided Implementation Planning as an effective and more feasible option to consider when supporting implementer levels of treatment integrity. Teachers were asked to implement the academic intervention Cover, Copy, and Compare with nominated students having difficulty with mathematics fluency. Following the completion of Computer-Guided Implementation Planning, teachers consistently demonstrated substantially improved levels of implementation adherence and moderately improved levels of implementation quality. They also found Computer-Guided Implementation Planning to be socially valid. Improved levels of treatment integrity were found to align with improved levels of fluency for the majority of students who participated. Implications and future directions related to the present findings are discussed below