Teaching students with autism to solve mathematical story problems: A replication and extension

Zhou et al. (2024) worked with three autistic students in first and second grade. All three were in general-education math classes and could read simple sentences.

The team taught an overt step-by-step chain over Zoom. Kids said and pointed to four prompts: label the question, pick the operation, find the big number, find the small number. Then they solved the problem.

Every child learned to solve addition and subtraction story problems. Accuracy jumped after the chain was taught and stayed high on new problems.

Skills lasted two weeks and moved to paper worksheets with no prompts.

Ganz et al. (2009) created the same four-step chain for multiplication and division. Zhou copied the steps and showed they also work for younger autistic kids doing easier math.

Yakubova et al. (2015) used point-of-view videos to teach fraction word problems to high-schoolers with autism. Both studies got gains, so chaining and video modeling each help, just at different ages.

Wachob et al. (2015) found autistic children aged 8-14 scored lower than peers on number sense. That looks opposite, but the kids were older and got no targeted steps. Early, clear chaining may stop those gaps before they start.

You can add this four-prompt script to your telehealth toolkit. It takes no extra apps—just teach the child to talk through the steps aloud. Try it during one-to-one Zoom minutes or station teaching. The chain gives the student a voice routine they can use in any classroom worksheet or test.