A Case Study on the Development of Math Competence in an Eight-year-old Child with Dyscalculia: Shared Intentionality in Human-Computer Interaction for Online Treatment Via Subitizing

Abstract

Studies in the field of neuroscience have shown that the neural network responsible for numeracy overlaps with the visual and spatial processing regions. Other studies in psychology also highlighted an association of visual-spatial processing with mathematical competence at the early stages of development. These findings suggest that research on the size of the focal area of attention (consciousness) can contribute to understanding the development of numeracy. In this case study, we verified the hypothesis of developing numeracy in children by training the rapid apperception of a few items called “subitizing.” Shared intentionality promotes cognition from the onset. Therefore, in this study, we investigated this interaction modality to give an eight-year-old girl an insight into expanded apperception of an array in "subitizing" for improving her numerical competence. The child was stimulated to apperceive more objects while performing “subitizing” tasks with the mother. The course of treatment consisted of the four regimes of human-computer interaction based on rapid exposure to several pictures with a few dots. Simultaneously, this human-computer interaction also stimulated shared intentionality in the mother-child dyad for developing the child’s rapid apprehension of these small quantities. The outcome of this intervention was an increase in the size of the focal point of attention (consciousness) and the development of numerical competence, where an association was established between the expanding apperception and the developing numeracy.