Resilience in mathematics after early brain injury: The roles of parental input and early plasticity

Academic skills after brain injury: A lifespan perspective

OBJECTIVES

This study investigated academic skills outcomes after brain injury and identified the influence of age and injury factors across the lifespan.

METHOD

Our sample included 651 participants with focal brain lesions. Math, reading, and spelling data from the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) were used as the academic skills outcomes. Age of lesion onset ranged from 0 to 85 years old. Linear regressions were conducted to identify the relation between age and injury factors and academic skills outcomes. Lesion-symptom mapping was conducted to identify the brain areas that, when lesioned, were associated with deficits in academic skills.

RESULTS

A quadratic model of age of lesion onset significantly predicted math (R² = .28, p < .001), reading (R² = .29, p < .001), and spelling outcomes (R² = .32, p < .001), while accounting for various covariates. Education, sex, lesion size and laterality, etiology, and seizure history were additional reliable predictors of academic skills outcomes across the lifespan. Academic skill deficits were associated with damage to various brain areas across the left-hemisphere frontal, temporal, and parietal lobes, the insular area, and left- and right-hemisphere white matter.

CONCLUSIONS

This study supports age of lesion onset as a relevant predictor of academic skills after brain injury in a lifespan sample. Several other variables (e.g., education, sex, lesion characteristics, and seizure history) are notable in the prediction of outcomes across the lifespan. Future work could investigate more diverse samples and emphasize recruitment of early onset injuries to examine generalizability and potential critical periods for academic skills. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Effects of Perinatal Stroke on Executive Functioning and Mathematics Performance in Children

The goal of this study was to examine executive functioning, math performance, and visuospatial processing skills of children with perinatal stroke, which have not been well explored in this population. Participants included 18 children with perinatal stroke (aged 6-16 years old) and their primary caregiver. Each child completed standardized tests of executive function and visuospatial processing skills, Intelligence Quotient (IQ), and math achievement. Performance on executive function, IQ, math, and visuospatial processing tests was significantly lower in children with perinatal stroke when compared to normative means. Poorer inhibitory control was associated with worse math performance. Increased age at testing was associated with better performance on visuospatial ability (using standardized scores), and females performed better than males on a test of inhibitory control. Children with perinatal stroke displayed a range of neuropsychological impairments, and difficulties with executive function (inhibition) may contribute to math difficulties in this population.

Probing the Relationship Between Home Numeracy and Children's Mathematical Skills: A Systematic Review

The concept of home numeracy has been defined as parent–child interactions with numerical content. This concept started to receive increasing attention since the last decade. Most of the studies indicated that the more parents and their children engage in numerical experiences, the better children perform in mathematical tasks. However, there are also contrasting results indicating that home numeracy does not play a role or that there is a negative association between the parent–child interactions and children's mathematics performance. To shed light on these discrepancies, a systematic review searching for available articles examining the relationship between home numeracy and mathematical skills was conducted. Thirty-seven articles were retained and a p-curve analysis showed a true positive association between home numeracy and children's mathematical skills. A more qualitative investigation of the articles revealed five common findings: (1) Advanced home numeracy interactions but not basic ones are associated with children's mathematical skills. (2) Most participants in the studies were mothers, however, when both parents participated and were compared, only mothers' reports of formal home numeracy activities (i.e., explicit numeracy teaching) were linked to children's mathematical skill. (3) Formal home numeracy activities have been investigated more commonly than informal home numeracy activities (i.e., implicit numeracy teaching). (4) The number of studies that have used questionnaires to assess home numeracy is larger compared with the ones that have used observations. (5) The majority of the studies measured children's mathematical skills with comprehensive tests that index mathematical ability with one composite score rather than with specific numerical tasks. These five common findings might explain the contradictory results regarding the relationship between home numeracy and mathematical skills. Therefore, more research is necessary to draw quantitative conclusions about these five points.

New insights from children with early focal brain injury: Lessons to be learned from examining STEM-related skills

The study of cognitive development in children with early brain injury reveals crucial information about the developing brain and its plasticity. However, information on long-term outcomes of these children, especially in domains relevant to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) remains limited. In the current review, our goal is to address the existing research on cognitive development of children with pre- or perinatal focal brain lesion (PL) as it relates to children's STEM-related skills and suggest future work that could shed further light on the developmental trajectories of children with PL. We argue that examining STEM-related development in children with PL will have broader implications for our understanding of the nature of the plasticity children with PL exhibit as well as address theoretical questions in the field regarding the foundation skills for STEM, including visuospatial and mathematical skills.