Eight-year-old Jessica has a mathematics disorder. You have been asked to make recommendations to Jessica's parents and teacher as to how they might help Jessica. From a behavioral and cognitive–behavioral standpoint, what specific recommendations would you make?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Behavioral methods often are used in conjunction with a complete program of direct instruction, which typically proceeds in a cumulative, highly structured manner (Wright & Jacobs, 2003), as shown in A Closer Look 7.2 . Because this method places a strong emphasis on the behavior of the teacher in terms of explicit correction, reinforcement, and practice opportunities, it is sometimes referred to as "faultless instruction": Each concept should be so clearly presented that only one interpretation is possible. Each lesson is structured according to field-tested scripts. Teachers work with one small group of students at a time, and shoot questions at them at a rate as high as 10 to 12 per minute. This highly structured, repetitive method is clearly effective. Like behavioral methods, these procedures actively involve students in learning, particularly in monitoring their own thought processes. Considerable emphasis is placed on self-control by using strategies such as self-monitoring, self-assessment, self-recording, self-management of reinforcement, and so on (Alwell & Cobb, 2009; Cobb et al., 2006). Essentially, children are taught to ask themselves several questions as they progress, to make themselves more aware of the material.