Effects of SBI + CRA on math problem solving for young adults with intellectual disability

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Postsecondary opportunities for young adults with developmental disabilities (DD) are increasing, yet many individuals with intellectual disability (ID) or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) enter college with significant gaps in mathematics, particularly in word-problem solving. These gaps restrict students’ ability to fully benefit from higher education and diminish their prospects for independent, high‑quality lives. Grounded in an explicit-instruction framework, this study evaluated a schema-based intervention (SBI) delivered through a concrete–representational–abstract (CRA) sequence to remediate geometric word-problem deficits. A randomized, response-guided multiple-baseline design across three participants (ages 18–25; IQ = 68–84) enrolled in a two-year postsecondary education program assessed the intervention’s effects. The dependent variable was the number of correctly completed solution steps on worksheets requiring students to find the area of rectangles. Masked visual analysis and a randomization test confirmed a functional relation between the intervention and improved performance. All participants demonstrated rapid gains, and generalized the skills to novel problem contexts.