Effects of Abstract Manipulatives on Students with Disabilities

Abstract

Currently, there is a need for effective strategies and tools to help students with disabilities progress in their understanding of early numeracy skills. Manipulatives are frequently used in early elementary classroom settings, and research implies that abstract manipulatives have greater success in comparison to concrete manipulatives. This study examined the effect of abstract manipulatives on a population of students with varying disabilities or in the rising tiers of Response to Intervention (RTI). Touch Math is an intervention that was created in 1975. It involves abstract manipulatives presented in the form of Touch Points. The effects of Touch Math were examined in the areas of two digit addition without regrouping, addition and subtraction fluency, and the attitude of students towards math. The GRASP fluency assessment, Attitudes Towards Math Survey, and an assessment provided by the Touch Math Intervention were used to assess the effectiveness of the study.