~ 6 ~ WWJMRD 2015; 1(6): 6-11 www.wwjmrd.com e-ISSN: 2454-6615 Mackenzie Lapke Department of Special Education Gonzaga University, Washington, United States T. F. McLaughlin Department of Special Education Gonzaga University, Washington, United States Correspondence: T. F. McLaughlin Department of Special Education Gonzaga University, Washington, United States The effects of direct instruction flashcards to increase number recognition for a five-year-old general education ell student Mackenzie Lapke, T. F. McLaughlin Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of DI flashcards on the number identification for an English Language Learner (ELL) in a general education kindergarten classroom. A single subject multiple baseline across different sets of numbers was used for this study. By the end of this study, our participant showed mastery of correctly identifying all numbers zero through 31 in random order. Additionally, the student’s self confidence in math grew as a result of his increased skills in number recognition. Our procedure was cost effective and required little time for both the first author and the participant. Keywords: General Education Student, DI Flashcards, Number Recognition, Kindergarten, Very Effective Effect Sizes Multiple Baseline Design, Non-Overlapping Data Points (NDP) Introduction In everyday life, there are many important tasks that require the use of math, especially in the primary grades. Therefore, it is apparent that math proficiency is necessary, especially in school. According to Curico (1999), learning basic facts is not a prerequisite for solving problems, but learning facts becomes a necessity to solve problems that are meaningful, and relevant. Number identification is a prerequisite for all areas of math, and is a skill set that our society expects pre-kindergarteners to have already mastered (Shapiro, 2014). Without basic numeral identification, later math skills that the children will encounter will become much more difficult. Math underachievement also poses major problems for typically developing children in general education classrooms (Shapiro, 2014), because these children cannot grasp more complex concepts as they are introduced causing them to fall farther behind from the rest of their peers. The Direct Instruction (DI) flashcard system is a successful academic intervention strategy that can be adapted and used in many academic areas (Silbert, Carnine, & Stein, 1981). There are many advantages of using the DI flashcard system. One advantage is the ease at which it can be implemented in almost any academic subject area or classroom setting, to teach specific skills quickly and easily (Skarr, Zielinski, Ruwe, Sharp, Williams, & McLaughlin, 2014; Van Houten & Rolider, 1989). The DI flashcard procedure uses a mixture of mastered and unmastered facts (Seines, McLaughlin, Derby, Weber, & Gortsema, 2015; Skarr et al., 2014). When a child is shown a flashcard of a fact and he or she answers correctly, the flashcard is moved to the back of the deck. If the child answers the math fact incorrectly, the instructor would model the correct response to the child. Then, the child would repeat the answer and the card would be moved two or three cards back (Silbert et al., 1981; Harris et al., 2015). Once the child has answered the math fact correctly three times, the flashcard is moved to the back of the deck. The same model, lead, test procedure is repeated with every error the child makes (Skarr et al., 2014). It has been shown that students that are taught using this teaching method have performed higher on post-tests compared with students who are taught using traditional methods (Sindelar & Wilson, 1991). In addition, a wide range of research has documented DI flashcards in teaching math facts (Glover, McLaughlin, Derby, & Gower, 2010; LeBrun, Jones, Neyman, McLaughlin, & Schuler, 2014; Skarr et al. 2014), sight words (Erbey, McLaughlin, Derby, & Everson, 2011; Hopewell, McLaughlin, & Derby, 2010; Kaufman, McLaughlin, Derby, & Waco, 2011; World Wide Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development