Arithmetic learning difficulties in children

Abstract

This study explored the arithmetic skills of 39 children with arithmetic learning difficulties (ALD), compared to two control groups, one consisting of normally achieving children matched to the ALD sample for chronological age (n=28), and another comprising younger normally achieving children matched to the ALD sample for arithmetic level (n=28). To determine the relative contribution of reading impairments to arithmetic performance, the ALD group was further classified according to the presence or absence of reading difficulties into a mixed ALD (n=24) and specific ALD (n=15) group, respectively. The ALD group performed well below their chronological age counterparts in terms of the developmental maturity of their arithmetic problem solving. These children demonstrated a reliance on slow, counting-based procedures to solve arithmetic problems and, in this regard, they performed similarly to their younger, arithmetic-matched normal peers. Children with ALD also employed direct fact retrieval reliably less often than their same-age peers, but did not differ from their younger, arithmetic-matched counterparts. There were few significant differences between ALD children with and without accompanying reading problems. The findings suggest that children with ALD appear to show delayed development of arithmetic skills rather than specific processing deficits or abnormalities when comparison is made with both their chronological age and arithmetic-matched normal peers.

Notes

Corresponding author: Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3052, Australia. Email: [email protected]