Virtual and Concrete Manipulatives: A Comparison of Approaches for Solving Mathematics Problems for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder

• Published in: Journal of autism and developmental disorders Vol. 44; no. 1; pp. 180 - 193
• Main Authors: Bouck, Emily C., Satsangi, Rajiv, Doughty, Teresa Taber, Courtney, William T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.01.2014; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Age; Allied Health Personnel; Autism; Autism Spectrum Disorders; Autistic spectrum disorders; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child and School Psychology; Child clinical studies; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive - physiopathology; Comparative Analysis; Computer Assisted Instruction; Developmental disorders; Elementary School Students; General education; Humans; Infantile autism; Internet; Learning; Learning Disorders - physiopathology; Male; Manipulative Materials; Mathematics; Mathematics Education; Mathematics Instruction; Mathematics Skills; Medical sciences; Moderate Intellectual Disability; Neurosciences; Original Paper; Pediatrics; Pervasive Developmental Disorders; Problem Solving; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Public Health; Service provision; Students; Students with Disabilities; Subtraction; Tactual Perception; Teaching Methods; Therapists; ASD; Mathematics; Elementary; Academic content; Human; Autism; Pervasive developmental disorder; Problem solving; Developmental disorder; Student; Comparative study; Autism spectrum disorder
• ISSN: 0162-3257; 1573-3432; 1573-3432
• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-013-1863-2

Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are included in general education classes and expected to participate in general education content, such as mathematics. Yet, little research explores academically-based mathematics instruction for this population. This single subject alternating treatment design study explored the effectiveness of concrete (physical objects that can be manipulated) and virtual (3-D objects from the Internet that can be manipulated) manipulatives to teach single- and double-digit subtraction skills. Participants in this study included three elementary-aged students (ages ranging from 6 to 10) diagnosed with ASD. Students were selected from a clinic-based setting, where all participants received medically necessary intensive services provided via one-to-one, trained therapists. Both forms of manipulatives successfully assisted students in accurately and independently solving subtraction problem. However, all three students demonstrated greater accuracy and faster independence with the virtual manipulatives as compared to the concrete manipulatives. Beyond correctly solving the subtraction problems, students were also able to generalize their learning of subtraction through concrete and virtual manipulatives to more real-world applications.