Exploring the Need for Response-Guided Changes to Modified Schema-Based Instruction for Students with Intellectual Disability

This article reports findings from a feasibility study of three units of Math Scene Investigators, a curriculum that uses Modified Schema-Based Instruction (MSBI) to teach multiplicative word problem solving. The intent was to better understand for whom and under what conditions MSBI is effective, by examining how four high school students with intellectual disability (ID) responded to the intervention as planned and the need for and impact of response-guided changes. Results of the non-concurrent multiple baseline design found a functional relation between MSBI and measured word problem solving behaviors for both ratio and proportion word problems. Two participants required response-guided changes during the proportion unit. We discuss how the results align with our anticipated data patterns and how post-hoc exploratory analysis informed our interpretation of participants’ need for and response to these changes.