Numeracy recovery: a pilot scheme for early intervention with young children with numeracy difficulties

Abstract

The Numeracy Recovery scheme described here involves working with children who have been identified by their teachers as having problems with arithmetic. These children are assessed on eight components of early numeracy: (1) principles and procedures related to counting; (2) use of written arithmetical symbolism; (3) use of place value in arithmetic; (4) understanding and solution of word problems; (5) translation between concrete, verbal and numerical formats; (6) use of derived fact strategies for calculation; (7) arithmetical estimation and (8) memory for number facts. The children received weekly individual intervention in the particular components with which they were found to have difficulty. For the first 62 children in the project, Wilcoxon tests showed a significant improvement in standardised scores in both tests following intervention.