Using a Conceptual Understanding and Procedural Fluency Heuristic to Target Math Interventions with Students in Early Elementary

The study examined the use of a conceptual and procedural framework for identifying math deficits and delivering appropriate interventions. Participants were two first–grade students and one third–grade student, who were identified as struggling with the grade–appropriate content in math. The first–grade students focused on addition and the third–grade student focused on multiplication. Each student's conceptual understanding was assessed, and students who lacked conceptual understanding received an intervention that addressed underlying concepts. Students with acceptable understanding of the underlying concepts received an intervention that focused on the procedure. The study used a single–case, multiple–baseline design, but the contra–indicated intervention was administered for the first 2 weeks following baseline, with the prescribed intervention for the final 2 weeks. Each student showed more growth during the prescribed intervention phase when compared to the contra–indicated phase.