Why Students with Special Needs Have Difficulty Learning Mathematics and What Teachers Can Do to Help

Abstract

The national council of teachers of Mathematics advocates a balanced approach of teaching both procedural and conceptual knowledge (NCTM 2000). In practice, however, students with special needs often receive a great deal of algorithmic instruction because mastering algorithms is what we “see” them struggle with the most. Even with a heavy dose of algorithmic instruction, many of these students still have difficulty performing algorithms efficiently. Furthermore, without developing conceptual understanding while learning algorithms, these students will never understand foundational mathematical concepts.