Learning Disabilities and Math Inadequacy

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1 T HAS LONG BEEN ACCEPTED that there is a close relationship between mathematical skill and intelligence. Still to be established is the belief that mathematical inadequacy arises primarily from low intellectual potential. This is something that has become accepted in the same way as the theory that girls are inherently inferior to boys in mechanical arithmetic. Since tests of general intelligence, because they are predictors of school success, are heavily loaded with items of a verbal and arithmetical nature, one might also expect to find that children who achieve highly in language and number skills should also do well in intelligence tests. Perhaps the safest definition of intelligence is one which describes it as what is measured by intelligence tests! The development of the theory and practice of factorial analysis has enabled statisticians to become far more precise in specifying the nature of the skills measured by intelligence tests. Prominent in this field were the Thurstones, who isolated a number of primary factors, each of which “can be regarded as a composite of an independent primary factor and a general factor which it shares with other primary factors.”’ They found seven factors, or primary abilities, and these are set forth below. 1. Verbal comprehension (V): Vocabulary tests represent this factor. 2. Word fluency (W): This factor calls for the ability to think of words rapidly, or to think of words that rhyme.