Parent and child spontaneous focus on number, mathematical abilities, and mathematical talk during play activities

Abstract

The mathematical talk that parents use when engaging with their children is important for children’s early math development. However, parents vary in the amount and type of mathematical input they provide. Because early math knowledge is predictive of later achievement, understanding contributors to this variation has implications for children’s math development. The current study examined how individual parent and child cognitive factors, including math ability and spontaneous focus on number (SFON), relate and contribute to math talk during parent-child play. Findings indicate that SFON relates to math ability for both parents and children. SFON was not a significant predictor of math talk, but parent and child math ability related to talk about advanced math concepts and numbers in context. These results suggest that the relation of SFON and math ability is consistent in adulthood, and that more research is needed to understand factors that contribute to variation in math talk.