Evaluating the Effects and Social Validity of Detect, Practice, and Repair for Three Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Many students lack basic computational fluency skills that form the foundation for learning algebra in high school. This is particularly true for students with disabilities. Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) have experienced slower achievement growth rates throughout the pivotal middle grades when compared to other students with and without disabilities. Given the academic challenges for students with EBD, specifically in the area of mathematics, there is a need for researchers to identify and for practitioners to apply research-based best practice in academic intervention and remediation. The purpose of the current study is to examine the effects of a mathematics fluency intervention package, comprised four research-based subcomponents (i.e., taped problems, constant time delay, cover-copy-compare, and explicit timing), on multiplication fluency of middle school-aged student-participants with EBD. The goal of this research is to evaluate the effects and social significance of a modified version of the Detect, Practice, and Repair (DPR; mDPR) intervention in terms of providing students and teachers an acceptable means with which to remediate multiplication fluency deficits in middle school and high school settings. The proposed study integrates systematic instruction with technology and self-monitoring to create a personalized and independent learning activity for students. The proposed modified version of Detect, Practice, and Repair intervention is designed to be efficient for students and practical for teachers.