A comparison of the effectiveness and efficiancy of teaching basic multiplication by using two instruction methods to the students with mild intellectual disabilities

Mathematics skills are one of the prerequisite skills for the students with mild intellectual disabilities to live independently both in their daily lives and their academic lives. Considering the fact that even the students with normal development have some difficulties in dealing with mathematics, it is very important for the teachers to adapt their teachings and use multisensory methods while they teach students with mild intellectual disabilities. Among the multisensory models are Concrete-Representational-Abstract (CRA) Sequence of Instruction Method and TouchMath Technique both aims to teach basic facts in a sequence by using concrete, semi-concrete and abstract sequences. The aim of this research is to determine if the effectiveness and efficiency of the methods, Concrete-Representational-Abstract (CRA) Sequence of Instruction Method and TouchMath Technique, differ in instructing basic multiplication facts to the students with mild intellectual disabilities. Four students aged 12-13, diagnosed with mild intellectual disabilities was participated to this research. Independent variables of the research are; Concrete-Representational-Abstract (CRA) Sequence of Instruction Method and TouchMath Technique. Dependent variables are two different teaching methods independent of each other, which were consisted of experimentally and logically analyzed basic multiplication facts that were prepared at similar and equal difficulty. In this study, adapted alternating treatments design was used as a research model. The efficacy data of the research was analyzed using graphical analysis method. According to the results of the study, both instructional methods were found effective in teaching the basic multiplication facts to four participants. When the level of effectiveness of two methods were compared, no significant differences were found. When the efficacies of both methods were compared in terms of instruction sessions and the number of intermittent probe sessions; while no significant difference was not found among two of the participants and with the other two participants TouchMath Technique was found to be more efficient. Furthermore, TouchMath was found to be more efficient for all four participants in terms of total instruction sessions time, average instruction time and total number of mistakes they made in intermittent probe sessions. In the study participants were observed to generalize the basic multiplication abilities to the different environments, different materials, different basic multiplication facts which weren't thought and participants were also observed to maintain the basic multiplication facts after seven weeks. In the quest of the social validity of the study, participants, parents and teachers have stated positive opinions about the study. Key Words: Special Education, Mild Intellectual Disabilities, Mathematics Education,Basic Multiplication, Concrete-Representational-Abstract (CRA) Sequence of Instruction Method, TouchMath.