CRA Project Reflection
Jennie Bowers
Department of Special Education, University of Nevada – Las Vegas
ESP 724: Math Methods for Students with Mild Disabilities
Jessica Ain
10/18/24
The student that was selected for the project is a 9-year-old student who is in fourth grade
at Veterans Elementary school. He is enrolled in a Strategies program which is a self-contained
program designed for students with autism spectrum disorder. Although the student is in the
fourth grade their academic levels are those of a second grader. The student has an Individualized
Education Program with academic goals and objectives tailored to their ability level. The
student’s diagnosis of autism has an impact on the student’s ability to focus in the classroom and
needs almost constant redirection to a task when working one on one with the teacher.
The Concrete-Representative-Abstract process was conducted during a one-on-one
session with the student during math center rotations. The student has had previous experience
adding two numbers together within 20. The student’s preferred method of solving equations is
to use manipulatives. Occasionally the student will become distracted while working with
manipulatives, begin to use them as building blocks, and need redirection back to the task at
hand. The student has been working towards the use of representative models when solving and
equation, but still learning the process.
During the Concrete phase the math problem of 8 + 4 =? was presented to the student. He
was provided with counting cubes to solve the equation. During this time the student needed lots
of prompts to stay on task. This is not something out of the ordinary for this student. Once they
were able to focus back on the task at hand, they were able to accurately count out eight cubes
and put them near the addend. They then were able to count out four more cubes and place them
below the four. Finally, they were able to put all the cubes together to count a total of twelve
counting cubes and verbally respond with the correct answer. As stated above, this is the
student’s preferred method of solving equations so it is not surprising that they were able to
accurately respond to the equation.
During the Representational phase the student was presented with the same equation of 8
+ 4 =?, but this time the student was not provided counting cubes but was given a white board
and marker instead. The student was then directed to use the marker and board to draw a picture
to show the problem and was asked how they can draw dots to solve the equation. The student
once again needed frequent prompting to stay on task. The student used the marker and white
board to copy the equation onto the board, the teacher re-prompting stating how we can use our
dots to solve the equation. The student wrote the equation on the board again requiring additional
prompting. Finally, the student was able to draw dots to represent the number eight. They then
continued to draw dots for number four but was counting faster than they were marking resulting
in only drawing three dots instead of four. This is where the teacher would normally provide
error correction prompting the student to re-count the dots they drew while referencing back to
the original equation. Since this project was prompting only the teacher did not provide error
correction at this time. The student provided the incorrect sum of 11.
Finally during the abstract phase the student was once again presented with the equation
of 8 + 4 =?. Since the student had previously solved the equation during the Representational
phase they had a sum already in their brain, although it was the incorrect sum. The student did
not do anything to solve the equation instead just writing the previous incorrect sum of 11.
In the future the student could progress towards primarily using the Representational
method of the CRA strategy. They would just need additional prompting and error correction
when necessary. If the student were to slow down on their work they would have come to the
correct sum. They would have additionally been able to see their error with the teacher
prompting the error correction showing that only three dots were drawn, referring to the equation
and asking if the numbers match. This is a method that would prove useful for this student in the
future.
