Introduction and Background Information
Research
Additional Resources on the Web 

Introduction and Background Information:

LD Talk: "Summing Up the Evidence on Math and LD"
Featured experts: Dr. Daniel B. Berch and Dr. Michele Mazzocco
For students who struggle with learning disabilities, math can be a source of enormous frustration. This March 17, 2007 LD Talk highlights the area of math, and in particular, the science underlying math learning.

NCLD Fact Sheet: Learning Disabilities and Math
This fact sheet provides essential information about learning disabilities in math, including their effects across the life span, warning signs, identification and treatment options.

Math & LD: Support for Early Identification
While there are surely students whose underlying struggles in math learning are due to learning disabilities, we also believe that providing carefully tailored individual or small group instruction together with additional practice, explanation and feedback might be sufficient for many students who are lagging behind their peers in learning critical foundational skills in math.

LD Talk: Understanding Math LD
Featured expert, Dr. Nancy Jordan, a member of NCLD's Math and LD Roundtable and a leading researcher in the area of mathematics instruction, discusses learning difficulties and disabilities in mathematics in this November 17, 2005 LD Chat.  Click here for a complete list of LD Talk transcripts.

LD Links: Mathematics & LD 
November 2005 LD News
Here you will find useful Web resources related to Math and LD, including information on early math interventions, successful middle school curricula, background information on math difficulties and disabilities, and much more.  Click here for a full list of archived LD News.

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Research

NCLD commissioned a paper titled Early Identification of Math Difficulties and Disabilities: Beginnings of a Scientific Foundation (PDF). This paper is a first step toward 'unpacking' what we know about math learning in young children and how early math learning lays the foundation for later acquisition of mathematical concepts.

Research Roundup: Math and LD: Counting on Research for Answers 
NCLD's Director of Professional Services, Dr. Sheldon Horowitz, offers insight on mathematics and learning disabilities in his October 2005 column. The article highlights key questions and issues, and provides additional resources related to math instruction and learning disabilities. To browse through past Research Roundup columns, click here.

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Additional Resources on the Web

Recent Research on Math Learning Disabilities:

Mayo Clinic researchers find math learning disorder is common
Innovations Report Results show that boys are more likely to have Math LD than girls, and that a substantial percentage of children have Math LD alone. The cumulative incidence of Math LD through age 19 ranges from 6% to as high as 14%, depending on the Math LD definition.

10-Year Look Shows Math, Achievement Gap Gains
Education Week Quality Counts At 10 is a report that looks at 10 years of National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data, and finds an overall correlation between states' standards-based reform and improvements on reading and math test scores in grades 4 through 8.  States like New Jersey and Texas show the largest gains in closing the achievement gap. (Registration required).

National Mathematics Advisory Panel Up and Running
U.S. Department of Education
On April 18, 2006, President George W. Bush issued an executive order creating the National Mathematics Advisory Panel to advise him and U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings on the "best available scientific evidence" for teaching and learning math. This panel will convene experts to evaluate the effectiveness of various math teaching approaches, and create a research base to improve instructional methods for teachers.

Resources for Parents:

Working with Your Child's Teacher to Identify and Address Math Disabilities SchwabLearning.org

Resources for Educators:

Curriculum-based Measurements - FAQs in Mathematics
National Center on Student Progress Monitoring

Mathematical Literacy: What Does it Mean for School Mathematics?
National Center for Improving Student Learning and Achievement in Mathematics and Science

Working Systematically
Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) a tool for school and school districts to help improve math and achievement.

Technology-Supported Math Instruction for Students with Disabilities: Two Decades of Research and Development
LDOnline.org

Math Matrix
Center for Implementing Technology in Education a resource that matches technology tools with supporting literature on promising practices for the instruction of K-8 mathematics for students with disabilities.

Accommodating Math Students with Learning Disabilities
National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy

Teaching How-to's: Math
TeachingLD, Council for Exceptional Children

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