Children's Number Skills Research Articles

Parent-based training of basic number skills in children with Down syndrome using an adaptive computer game

BackgroundNumeracy is an area of difficulty for children with Down syndrome (DS). It has been demonstrated that The Number Race, a non-commercial adaptive computer game designed to foster basic mathematical abilities, represents a promising instrument to enhance these skills in children with DS when delivered by an expert in a clinical setting. AimsIn the present study, we assessed the efficacy of The Number Race when administered at home by properly instructed and remotely supervised parents. Methods and proceduresBasic numerical skills were assessed before and after training, as well as at three-months follow-up. Performance of children with DS who worked at home with the parent (PG) was compared with that of children who received the training by an expert (EG). For both groups, the training lasted ten weeks, with two weekly sessions of 20−30 min. Outcomes and resultsResults show that both groups improved across various measures of numerical proficiency, including the overall score of the numeracy assessment battery, while only the EG showed an improvement in a measure of mental calculation. The improvements were maintained three months after the end of the training. Conclusions and implicationsThese findings confirm the efficacy of The Number Race and extend it to an home-based setting, whereby parents administer the training with external supervision.

Intergenerational Features of Math Skills: Symbolic and Non-Symbolic Magnitude Comparison and Written Calculation in Mothers and Children

ABSTRACT In this article, we analyze symbolic and non-symbolic numerical abilities of parents in order to understand whether these are predictors of children’s numerical skills, considering basic symbolic, non-symbolic, and formal math skills (i.e., written calculation). A battery of cognitive and math tasks was administered to a sample of 83 children with established formal school experience (i.e., fourth and fifth grade students), and to their mothers. Correlational and regression analyses were performed. The results evidenced significant relationships between children’s and mothers’ symbolic and math skills, but children’s symbolic comparison skills were the most significant predictor of their math skills. The study suggests that the intergenerational features of math skills play a significant role in children’s numerical development but that children’s math skills ultimately depend mainly on their own numerical processing. Within an educational perspective, the development of symbolic number skills in children is crucial and might allow the constraints of intergenerational transmission of math skills to be reduced.

Impact of Language Abilities on Exact and Approximate Number Skills Development: Evidence From Children With Specific Language Impairment

Counting and exact arithmetic rely on language-based representations, whereas number comparison and approximate arithmetic involve approximate quantity-based representations that are available early in life, before the first stages of language acquisition. The objective of this study was to examine the impact of language abilities on the later development of exact and approximate number skills. Twenty-eight 7- to 14-year-old children with specific language impairment (SLI) completed exact and approximate number tasks involving quantities presented symbolically and nonsymbolically. They were compared with age-matched (AM) and vocabulary-matched (VM) children. In the exact arithmetic task, the accuracy of children with SLI was lower than that of AM and VM controls and related to phonological measures. In the symbolic approximate tasks, children with SLI were less accurate than AM controls, but the difference vanished when their cognitive skills were considered or when they were compared with younger VM controls. In the nonsymbolic approximate tasks, children with SLI did not differ significantly from controls. Further, accuracy in the approximate number tasks was unrelated to language measures. Language impairment is related to reduced exact arithmetic skills, whereas it does not intrinsically affect the development of approximate number skills in children with SLI.

Development of Counting Skills: Role of Spontaneous Focusing on Numerosity and Subitizing-Based Enumeration

Children differ in how much they spontaneously pay attention to quantitative aspects of their natural environment. We studied how this spontaneous tendency to focus on numerosity (SFON) is related to subitizing-based enumeration and verbal and object counting skills. In this exploratory study, children were tested individually at the age of 4–5 years on these skills. Results showed 2 primary relationships in children's number skills development. Performance in a number sequence production task, which is closely related to ordinal number sequence without reference to cardinality, is directly associated with SFON. Second, the association of SFON and object counting skills, which require relating cardinal and ordinal aspects of number, is mediated by subitizing-based enumeration. This suggests that there are multiple pathways to enumeration skills during development.

The number knowledge of four to five year olds at school entry and at the end of their first year

SUMMARY The early development of young children's number skills has been extensively documented. Moreover throughout the primary school years children build upon these skills to develop more flexible strategies which make less demands on working memory and begin to learn number facts. This paper aims to explore the mix of number knowledge and strategies young children bring into school and the way these develop over the reception year. The wide range of knowledge possessed at school entry as well as the broad span of achievements at the end of children's first year are noted. The relationship of these skills to the conventional UK reception class curriculum is considered. A persistent trend to find low scores in children who entered school in January is noted. Overall, many children display considerable numerical competence at school entry, most display marked improvement over the year, whilst a small minority still have made very limited progress despite the considerable efforts of their teachers. Reasons for this are put forward.