Understanding on how tailored curriculum affects students with learning difficulties in learning mathematics

In Hong Kong, students with learning difficulties (LD) are studying with mixed-ability students in an inclusive but examination directed setting. Teaching instructions are often ineffective for a certain proportion of LD students due to the quick pace of instruction progress aiming at regular classes and LD students’ relatively low cognitive processing speed during learning. To address this problem, the aim of this study is to understand how curriculum tailoring could affect LD students’ learning mathematics. A two-year intervention was conducted on a group of 10 primary school students (7-8 years of age) with LD, in which mathematics curriculum was tailored to buy time for the LD students acquiring a complete learning experience in mathematics. Interventions are carried out with special attention to whether curriculum tailoring in mathematics education could cope with the phenomenon of LD students’ achievement delay and how students’ LD could be catered for at a curriculum design level. Qualitative data was collected for analyzing students’ performance, which includes students’ learning records, class observations, and interviews with seven parents. The findings show that most of the students with LD under the tailored curriculum have a positive attitude towards mathematics, have confidence in learning, and could exhibit some structural understanding of mathematical principles. Copyright © 2017 The Education University of Hong Kong.