The purpose of the present pilot study was to evaluate the effects of particular educational math games in kindergarten on numerical skills in Grade 1. Our participants were 49 children with early math difficulties, 65 average achievers, and 48 high-achieving 5-year-old children. All of them played various adaptive math games for 5 weeks. To avoid…

Counting abilities have been described as determinative precursors for a good development of later mathematical abilities. However, an important part of variance in mathematical achievement has also been associated with differences between instruction methods given in schools. In this study counting and instruction as predictors for mathematical…

The inclusion of children with special educational needs (SEN) in general education classrooms in Europe due to education policy and social developments is currently up for debate, especially in Germany. This paper addresses whether or not co-education of students with and without classroom problems and/or disabilities has negative consequences…

Reading Recovery (RR) is a widely used first grade intervention program for students who are struggling with literacy skills. With its component strategies, teacher training, high degree of fidelity of treatment, specified timeline, and cut-off score defining which students have succeeded, RR fits the problem-solving approach of the…

Children with learning disorders (LD) are at increased risk for a host of psychosocial problems, including Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) (e.g., Bouffard, Roy, & Vezeau, 2005; Elksnin & Elksnin, 2004; Greenham, 1999; Michaels & Lewandowski, 1990; Sideridis, Morgan, Botsas, Padeliadu & Fuchs, 2006; Weiner &…

This study examined the effects on math performance of the use of the rekenrek, a manipulative developed by Adrian Treffers. The rekenrek looks like an abacus, but differs in that it is based on a five-structure and not a ten-structure system. It is comprised of two rows of 10 beads, each broken into two sets of 5 by color (i.e., in each row the…

Two general models exist for implementing Response to Intervention (RtI) for struggling students, the standard protocol model and the problem-solving model. This study examined the long-term outcomes of one example of the problem-solving method, the Instructional Support Team (IST), in a field setting. Academic records of 32 students were reviewed…

There is growing evidence that the current method of identifying students with a learning disability (LD) is ineffective. The wait-to-fail model of assessing students after second/third grade as well as conceptual problems in using intelligence tests for identification result in students not receiving the assistance they need during the…