Intensive Intervention Practice Guide - Literacy Supports for Math Content Instruction for Students With Reading and Language Difficulty

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Angel

Guide explaining how literacy supports improve math instruction for students with comorbid reading and math difficulties. It summarizes research linking math disability to elevated reading disability, and describes cognitive and classroom impacts on attention, memory, numeracy, calculations, and word-problem/math-language comprehension. The guide presents three concrete strategies for elementary through high school educators, including schema-based problem solving, intentional focus on math language, and structured opportunities for math writing, with recommendations for family support and practical research appraisal.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages23

Reading Time58 min

AccessFree to download

What Is It?

For Whom Is It Intended?

How Does It Work?

How Can Families Support Implementation?

How Adequate Is the Research Knowledge Base?

How Practical Is It?

How Effective Is It?

What Questions Remain?

Where Can I Learn More?

References

Intensive Intervention Practice Guide: Literacy Supports for Math Content Instruction for Students With Reading and Language Difficulty Elizabeth Zagata, University of Connecticut Blair Payne, University of Texas at Austin Tessa Arsenault, University of Texas at Austin Literacy Supports for Math Content Instruction for Students With Reading and Language Difficulty | 2 This project was supported in part by Grant H325H190003 from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) . Opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the position of the U.S. Department of Education, and no official endorsement by it should be inferred. This product is public domain. Authorization to reproduce it in whole or in part is granted. Although permission to reprint this publication is not necessary, the citation should be: Zagata, E. , Payne, B. , & Arsenault, T. (2021) . Practice Guide: Literacy Supports for Math Content Instruction for Students With Reading and Language Difficulty. Washington, DC: US Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. Fall 2021 Graphic services supported in part by EKS NICHD Grant \#1P50HD103537-01 to the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center. Literacy Supports for Math Content Instruction for Students With Reading and Language Difficulty | 3 Contents What Is It? .......................................................................................... 4 For Whom Is It Intended? .................................................................. 6 How Does It Work? ............................................................................ 6 How Can Families Support Implementation? ................................... 9 How Adequate Is the Research Knowledge Base?........................... 10 How Practical Is It? ............................................................................ 11 How Effective Is It? ............................................................................ 12 What Questions Remain?.................................................................. 12 Where Can I Learn More? ................................................................ 13 References ......................................................................................... 13 Table 1 ............................................................................................... 19 Table 2 ............................................................................................... 20 Table 3 .............................................................................................. 21 Table 4 ............................................................................................... 22 Table 5 ............................................................................................... 23 Literacy Supports for Math Content Instruction for Students With Reading and Language Difficulty | 4 What Is It? Recent research (Joyner & Wagner, 2020) notes that students with an existing math disability are twice as likely to have a reading disability. This additional impact in reading affects students’academic and functional skills. As early as prekindergarten, students with comorbid reading and math difficulties experience more severe math difficulty on numeracy measures than individuals at risk for math difficulty alone (Barnes et al. , 2020) . Cognitively, research has shown that students with comorbid reading and math difficulty do not perform as well on measures of attention, visual-spatial problem-solving, long-term memory, short-term memory, working memory, and executive functioning, when compared to their peers who only have a math difficulty (Peng & Fuchs, 2016; Swanson & Jerman, 2006; Swanson et al. , 2009) . In math classes specifically, students with both reading and math difficulty perform lower in foundational numerical competencies and calculations than students with only math di

FAQs

What is the main purpose of this practice guide?

It provides three concrete strategies to support students with comorbid reading and math difficulty in math classrooms, from elementary through high school.

Why are literacy supports important in math instruction for these students?

Research shows students with reading and math difficulties face additional barriers to accessing math content, including challenges with math vocabulary, word problems, and comprehension of instructions.

What strategies does the guide recommend to support math learning?

The guide recommends schema-based instruction for problem solving, intentional focus on math language, and creating opportunities for math writing.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Angel