Maths matter for life: Towards an integrated approach to numeracy for the quality of life of young people with intellectual disabilities.

Abstract

Background: In the last decades, quality of life (QoL) approaches have become increasingly important in planning services for people with intellectual disabilities. These approaches have recently been extended to the field of education. The Educational Quality of Life (EQoL) approach is defined as a multidimensional construct that looks at resources and curricula from a functional perspective, to ensure that students with intellectual disabilities acquire the functional skills they need throughout their lives to improve their QoL. To date, the functional use of mathematics in daily activities, also known as numeracy, has been largely neglected.

Objective: In this Opinions and Perspectives, we propose that numeracy should be seen as a tool for improving the QoL of young people with intellectual disabilities.

Conclusion: To this end, we suggest research be conducted to better understand how mathematics contributes to the achievement of math-related daily activities relevant to their life contexts and its interactions with QoL.