# Project:  Promoting Math Problem Solving and Reading Comprehension via Language

> **NIH NIH P20** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $413,654

## Abstract

PROJECT ABSTRACT/SUMMARY
Despite important advances in the treatment of learning disabilities (LDs), the dominant approach to
intervention—direct skills instruction—fails to meet the needs of 25-40% of LD students. Innovative
approaches are therefore required to target the specific needs of subgroups of LD students in order to expand
the framework for LD intervention. This Project addresses a subset of the LD population that (a) has been
understudied, (b) experiences disproportionately poor response to intervention, and (c) represents an LD
subtype with a distinctive set of needs. These students have difficulty that spans math problem solving (MPS)
& reading comprehension (RC). We refer to this LD subtype as higher-order comorbid LDs. With this
understudied population, a transdisciplinary team of researchers, spanning learning sciences, second
language learning, LDs, and developmental psychology, investigate a high-risk innovative approach to LD
intervention. This approach involves embedding language comprehension (LC) instruction in direct skills
intervention, with instructional scaffolding to explicitly connect MPS, RC, & LC demands. Comorbid students
(with co-occurring difficulty in MPS & RC) are randomly assigned to (1) LC instruction embedded in direct MPS
intervention with scaffolding to connect MPS, RC, & LC demands; (2) LC instruction embedded in direct RC
intervention with scaffolding to address MPS, RC, & LC demands; or (3) a control group. We test aligned and
reciprocal effects of each condition on MPS & RC outcomes, and we test LC as a mediator of those effects.
We also explore the robustness of these effects by examining the pattern of intervention effects for boys vs.
girls and for native vs. non-native English speakers. This Project impacts science by testing the comorbidity
hypothesis: LC plays a critical role in MPS and RC and provides direction for understanding this form of LD
comorbidity and for offering a coordinated, efficient approach to improve both outcomes. This Project also
impacts clinical practice by addressing higher-order comorbidity (MPS+RC difficulty) as an LD subtyping
framework in a theoretically coordinated manner to simultaneously improve outcomes in two academic
domains that are critical for successful life outcomes.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9838236
- **Project number:** 5P20HD075443-08
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Lynn S Fuchs
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $413,654
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** — → 2022-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9838236

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9838236, Project:  Promoting Math Problem Solving and Reading Comprehension via Language (5P20HD075443-08). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9838236. Licensed CC0.

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