Deficits in metacognitive monitoring in mathematics assessments in learners with autism spectrum disorder.
Autistic learners often misjudge their own math accuracy, so build in brief self-check routines.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Brosnan et al. (2016) watched autistic and non-autistic learners take a math test. After each problem, the kids said if they thought their answer was right or wrong.
The team compared the students' guesses to their real scores. They wanted to see who could spot their own mistakes.
What they found
Autistic students often thought wrong answers were correct. They also said they meant to make the error, even when they had not.
Non-autistic kids were better at noticing when they slipped. The gap shows a metacognitive monitoring hiccup in autism.
How this fits with other research
Howard et al. (2019) extends this finding. The same kind of learners did better on classroom math when the computer added quick self-check prompts. The prompts helped patch the exact weakness Mark found.
Wachob et al. (2015) and Fernández-Cobos et al. (2025) echo the negative trend. Autistic children, with or without ID, often score lower on estimation and early math. Together, the papers show math struggles are broad, not just about knowing facts.
Zhou et al. (2024) and Yakubova et al. (2015) show upside. When teachers give clear step chains or video models, autistic students can master word and fraction problems. The gains happened even though the learners still had weak self-monitoring.
Why it matters
Check work even when the student says, "I'm done." Ask, "How do you know you're right?" Add quick self-check cards to seatwork: Did I re-read? Did I use my strategy? Swap in Katie-style computer prompts or have peers quiz each other. These tiny checks can lift accuracy without extra drill.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Children and adults with autism spectrum disorder have been found to have deficits in metacognition that could impact upon their learning. This study explored metacognitive monitoring in 28 (23 males and 5 females) participants with autism spectrum disorder and 56 (16 males and 40 females) typically developing controls who were being educated at the same level. Participants were asked a series of mathematics questions. Based upon previous research, after each question they were asked two metacognitive questions: (1) whether they thought they had got the answer correct or not (or 'don't know') and (2) whether they meant to get the answer correct or not (or 'don't know'). Participants with autism spectrum disorder were significantly more likely than the typically developing group to erroneously think that they had got an incorrect answer correct. Having made an error, those with autism spectrum disorder were also significantly more likely to report that they had meant to make the error. Different patterns in the types of errors made were also identified between the two groups. Deficits in metacognition were identified for the autism spectrum disorder group in the learning of mathematics. This is consistent with metacognitive research from different contexts and the implications for supporting learning in autism spectrum disorder are discussed.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2016 · doi:10.1177/1362361315589477