Four Strategies for Supporting Students With Dyslexia in Solving Mathematics Word Problems

Solving mathematics word problems requires skills from multiple domains, including efficient word-decoding skills, text comprehension, problem solving, and arithmetic. Word problems can be especially difficult for students with dyslexia (i.e., word-level reading disability), causing frustration for students and teachers. This article discusses the complex process of solving word problems and outlines four strategies for supporting the co-development of skills in word-problem solving and reading for students with dyslexia: (a) adapt word problems for readability and support word reading; (b) teach students to recognize word-problem types; (c) explicitly teach word-problem specific vocabulary; and (d) integrate writing through student-generated word problems.