Teaching Elementary Mathematics to Struggling Learners (What Works for Special-Needs Learners)

Packed with effective instructional strategies, this book explores why certain K-5 students struggle with math and provides a framework for helping these learners succeed. The authors present empirically validated practices for supporting students with disabilities and others experiencing difficulties in specific areas of math, including problem solving, early numeracy, whole-number operations, fractions, geometry, and algebra. Concrete examples, easy-to-implement lesson-planning ideas, and connections to state standards, in particular the Common Core standards, enhance the book's utility. Also provided is invaluable guidance on planning and delivering multi-tiered instruction and intervention.

Bradley S. Witzel, PhD, is Professor and Special Education Program Coordinator in the College of Education at Winthrop University in South Carolina. As a classroom teacher (and before that as a paraeducator), he worked in multiple settings, teaching mainly math and science to high-achieving students with disabilities and learning difficulties. Dr. Witzel has authored several dozen research and practitioner articles and several books, including Building Number Sense through the Common Core. He has developed and presented a dozen educational videos, and he has also delivered several hundred workshops and conference presentations. A governing board member of the Southeast Regional Educational Laboratory and a member of multiple state-level governing boards for multi-tiered systems of support and response to intervention, Dr. Witzel currently serves as editor of Focus on Inclusive Education through the Association of Childhood Education International.

Mary E. Little, PhD, is Professor and Coordinator of Graduate Programs in Exceptional Student Education at the University of Central Florida. She has worked in K–12 schools as a secondary teacher, co-teacher, program coordinator, and principal. Dr. Little serves as Principal Investigator for a research and development project designed to enhance the existing graduate programs at the university to ensure highly qualified special education teachers in the content areas of mathematics and science, especially within diverse urban schools. She is the author of numerous articles, chapters, and books, including RTI and Mathematics: Practical Tools for Teachers in K–8 Classrooms. Her interests include evidence-based instructional practices, interventions, teacher efficacy, and student learning related to teacher learning.