Mathematical Cognition Deficits in Children With Learning Disabilities and Persistent Low Achievement: A Five-Year Prospective Study.

Abstract

First- to fifth-grade mathematics and word reading achievement were assessed for children with mathematical learning disability (MLD, n = 16), persistent low achievement (LA, n = 29), and typical achievement (n = 132). Intelligence, working memory, processing speed, and in-class attention were assessed in 2 or more grades, and mathematical cognition was assessed with experimental tasks in all grades. The MLD group was characterized by low school-entry mathematics achievement and poor word reading skills. The former was mediated by poor fluency in processing or accessing quantities associated with small sets of objects and corresponding Arabic numerals, whereas the latter was mediated by slow automatized naming of letters and numbers. Both the MLD and LA groups showed slow across-grade growth in mathematics achievement. Group differences in growth were mediated by deficits or delays in fluency of number processing, the ability to retrieve basic facts from long-term memory and to decompose numbers to aid in problem solving, and by the central executive component of working memory and in-class attention.