Influence of the context on multiplication and division problems: A case study of a student with autism

Abstract

Students diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) usually develop interest in areas that is unusual in its intensity or focus. This paper focuses on the influence of the special interest areas in the problem solving processes of multiplication and division word arithmetic problems, through a single case study with an 11-year-old student diagnosed with ASD and intellectual disability. A questionnaire consisting of 15 problems contextualized in three types of contexts -special interest context, a familiar context and an unfamiliar context- was applied. Following a qualitative method, informal strategies and success in obtaining the solution were registered. The results show that both, the special interest context and the familiar context, determined the success in obtaining the problem solution; the student did not solved any problem in the unfamiliar context; the special interest context led to a greater involvement of the student in the search of the solution, but it did not represent an effective improvement with respect to familiar contexts, since in both contexts the student solved the multiplication and division-grouping problems, but did not solve the partitive-division problems. These findings contribute to completing the existing literature on the educational potential of special interest areas in students diagnosed with ASD.