Beyond the facts: building fluency in word problem solving

Purpose Existing literature shows mixed findings on the effectiveness of computation skills training on accurate responding to other math operants involving computation. This study aims to investigate whether fluency training for word problems affects the participants’ accurate response to math facts and other math operants. Design/methodology/approach The participants of the study were 8 middle school students with various learning disabilities aged from 11 to 14 years enrolled in a multi-grade special education classroom. All participants performed below grade level on numbers and operations-related math tasks. The authors used a multiple-probe design to test the effects of teaching word problems of accuracy and fluency criteria on the participants’ accuracy and rate of responding to math facts and other math problem solving by using the same number families targeted in the word problems. Findings Results showed increases in accuracy and fluency for all participants. The participants who demonstrated TSF across saying and writing demonstrated more significant gains than those who did not. Originality/value The current study challenged the common concept and approach of needing to break tasks down for students with special needs by testing the effects of fluency training for composite skill (i.e. solving word problems) on students’ responses to component skills (i.e. math facts). It also extends the findings of Sun and Greer (2023) by showing that when verbal stimuli were involved in fluency training, all participants showed various degrees of TSF from word problems to math facts.