Longitudinal mediators of achievement in mathematics and reading in typical and atypical development

The association between working memory and mathematical problem solving: A three-level meta-analysis

Although working memory (WM) is an important factor in mathematical problem solving (MPS), it remains unclear how well WM relates to MPS. Thus, we aimed to determine this relationship by using a meta-analysis. We searched electronic databases for studies published between 2000 and 2020 and established operational criteria. We conducted Egger’s regression tests and created funnel plots to test for publication bias. Finally, a three-level meta-analytic model analysis of data from 130 studies involving 43,938 participants and 1,355 effect sizes revealed a moderate relationship between WM and MPS (r = 0.280, 95% CI = [0.263, 0.314]). Moreover, moderator analyses showed that: (1) dressed-up word problems were more strongly tied to WM than to intra-mathematical problems; (2) the central executive function showed the strongest relation with MPS, whereas the phonological loop had the weakest; (3) gender ratio had significant moderating effects; and (4) some of the above-mentioned significant moderating effects were unique after controlling for other factors. Implications for research and practice were also discussed.

The relationship between phonological processing and arithmetic in children with learning disabilities

Phonological processing skills have not only been shown to be important for reading skills, but also for arithmetic skills. Specifically, previous research in typically developing children has suggested that phonological processing skills may be more closely related to arithmetic problems that are solved through fact retrieval (e.g., remembering the solution from memory) than procedural computation (e.g., counting). However, the relationship between phonological processing and arithmetic in children with learning disabilities (LDs) has not been investigated. Yet, understanding these relationships in children with LDs is especially important because it can help elucidate the cognitive underpinnings of math difficulties, explain why reading and math disabilities frequently co-occur, and provide information on which cognitive skills to target for interventions. In 63 children with LDs, we examined the relationship between different phonological processing skills (phonemic awareness, phonological memory, and rapid serial naming) and arithmetic. We distinguished between arithmetic problems that tend to be solved with fact retrieval versus procedural computation to determine whether phonological processing skills are differentially related to these two arithmetic processes. We found that phonemic awareness, but not phonological memory or rapid serial naming, was related to arithmetic fact retrieval. We also found no association between any phonological processing skills and procedural computation. These results converge with prior research in typically developing children and suggest that phonemic awareness is also related to arithmetic fact retrieval in children with LD. These results raise the possibility that phonemic awareness training might improve both reading and arithmetic fact retrieval skills. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Relationships between phonological processing and various arithmetic skills were investigated in children with learning disabilities (LDs) for the first time. We found phonemic awareness was related to arithmetic involving fact retrieval, but not to arithmetic involving procedural computation in LDs. The results suggest that phonemic awareness is not only important to skilled reading, but also to some aspects of arithmetic. These results raise the question of whether intervention in phonemic awareness might improve arithmetic fact retrieval skills.

A scoping review of cognition in spina bifida and its consequences for activity and participation throughout life

Aim

The aim of this scoping review was to summarise findings concerning cognitive characteristics in people with spina bifida and explain how cognitive factors influence activities and participation in different areas and stages of life.

Methods

PubMed, Psych INFO, ERIC, Scopus, CINAHL and the Cochrane Library were searched for English language papers published in 2000–2018. A total of 92 papers were selected and quality was assessed according to the McMaster criteria. The results were presented related to body functions, activity and participation from the International Classification of Function and Health, ICF.

Results

People with spina bifida tended to have a lower IQ than those without. The majority also had cognitive difficulties manifested in problems with language, perception, memory, executive and attentional functions. Those difficulties affected activity and participation in all life domains in ICF. This may affect medical adherence and responsibility and by extension the prevention of secondary complications.

Conclusion

It is important for caregivers, professionals and especially individuals with spina bifida themselves to understand and handle both physical and cognitive consequences in all life circumstances. Having insight into one’s own assets and difficulties paves the way to managing life challenges, which could enhance health, self‐management and participation in society.

Cognitive functions mediate the effect of preterm birth on mathematics skills in young children

Children born preterm are at risk for cognitive deficits and lower academic achievement. Notably, mathematics achievement is generally most affected. Here, we investigated the cognitive functions mediating early mathematics skills and how these are impacted by preterm birth. Healthy children born preterm (gestational age at birth < 33 weeks; n = 51) and children born full term (n = 27) were tested at ages 5, 6, and 7 years with a comprehensive battery of tests. We categorized items of the TEMA-3: Test for Early Mathematics Abilities Third Edition into number skills and arithmetic skills. Using multiple mediation models, we assessed how the effect of preterm birth on mathematics skills is mediated by spatial working memory, inhibitory control, visual-motor integration, and phonological processing. Both number and arithmetic skills showed group differences, but with different developmental trajectories. The initial performance gap observed in the preterm children decreased over time for number skills but increased for arithmetic skills. Phonological processing, visual-motor integration, and inhibitory control were poorer in children born preterm. These cognitive functions, particularly phonological processing, had a mediating effect on both types of mathematics skills. These findings help define and chart the trajectory of the specific cognitive skills directly influencing math deficit phenotypes in children born very preterm. This knowledge provides guidance for targeted evaluation and treatment implementation.

Role of Neurocognitive Factors in Academic Fluency for Children and Adults With Spina Bifida Myelomeningocele

OBJECTIVES

Fluency is a major problem for individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders, including fluency deficits for academic skills. The aim of this study was to determine neurocognitive predictors of academic fluency within and across domains of reading, writing, and math, in children and adults, with and without spina bifida. In addition to group differences, we expected some neurocognitive predictors (reaction time, inattention) to have similar effects for each academic fluency outcome, and others (dexterity, vocabulary, nonverbal reasoning) to have differential effects across outcomes.

METHODS

Neurocognitive predictors were reaction time, inattention, dexterity, vocabulary, and nonverbal reasoning; other factors included group (individuals with spina bifida, n=180; and without, n=81), age, and demographic and untimed academic content skill covariates. Univariate and multivariate regressions evaluated hypotheses.

RESULTS

Univariate regressions were significant and robust (R 2 =.78, .70, .73, for reading, writing, and math fluency, respectively), with consistent effects of covariates, age, reaction time, and vocabulary; group and group moderation showed small effect sizes (&lt;2%). Multivariate contrasts showed differential prediction across academic fluency outcomes for reaction time and vocabulary.

CONCLUSIONS

The novelty of the present work is determining neurocognitive predictors for an important outcome (academic fluency), within and across fluency domains, across population (spina bifida versus typical), over a large developmental span, in the context of well-known covariates. Results offer insight into similarities and differences regarding prediction of different domains of academic fluency, with implications for addressing academic weakness in spina bifida, and for evaluating similar questions in other neurodevelopmental disorders. (JINS, 2019, 25, 249-265).

Visual Attention and Math Performance in Survivors of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Objective

Attentional and academic difficulties, particularly in math, are common in survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Of cognitive deficits experienced by survivors of childhood ALL, attention deficits may be particularly responsive to intervention. However, it is unknown whether deficits in particular aspects of attention are associated with deficits in math skills. The current study investigated relationships between math calculation skills, performance on an objective measure of sustained attention, and parent- and teacher-reported attention difficulties.

Method

Twenty-four survivors of childhood ALL (Mage = 13.5 years, SD = 2.8 years) completed a computerized measure of sustained attention and response control and a written measure of math calculation skills in the context of a comprehensive clinical neuropsychological evaluation. Parent and teacher ratings of inattention and impulsivity were obtained.

Results

Visual response control and visual attention accounted for 26.4% of the variance observed among math performance scores after controlling for IQ (p < .05). Teacher-rated, but not parent-rated, inattention was significantly negatively correlated with math calculation scores.

Conclusions

Consistency of responses to visual stimuli on a computerized measure of attention is a unique predictor of variance in math performance among survivors of childhood ALL. Objective testing of visual response control, rather than parent-rated attentional problems, may have clinical utility in identifying ALL survivors at risk for math difficulties.

A Cognitive Dimensional Approach to Understanding Shared and Unique Contributions to Reading, Math, and Attention Skills

Disorders of reading, math, and attention frequently co-occur in children. However, it is not yet clear which cognitive factors contribute to comorbidities among multiple disorders and which uniquely relate to one, especially because they have rarely been studied as a triad. Thus, the present study considers how reading, math, and attention relate to phonological awareness, numerosity, working memory, and processing speed, all implicated as either unique or shared correlates of these disorders. In response to findings that the attributes of all three disorders exist on a continuum rather than representing qualitatively different groups, this study employed a dimensional approach. Furthermore, we used both timed and untimed academic variables in addition to attention and activity level variables. The results supported the role of working memory and phonological awareness in the overlap among reading, math, and attention, with a limited role of processing speed. Numerosity was related to the comorbidity between math and attention. The results from timed variables and activity level were similar to those from untimed and attention variables, although activity level was less strongly related to cognitive and academic/attention variables. These findings have implications for understanding cognitive deficits that contribute to comorbid reading disability, math disability, and/or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Neurocognitive Predictors of Academic Outcomes Among Childhood Leukemia Survivors

BACKGROUND

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is the most common pediatric cancer, and survival approaches 90%. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia survivors are more likely than healthy peers or siblings to experience academic underachievement, yet little is known about neurocognitive predictors of academic outcomes.

OBJECTIVES

Objectives were to compare neurocognitive abilities to age-adjusted standardized norms, examine change over time in neurocognitive abilities, and establish neurocognitive predictors of academic outcomes.

METHODS

Seventy-one children were followed over the course of therapy. Cognitive abilities were assessed during induction when the child was in remission (baseline) and annually for 3 years (years 1, 2, and 3). Reading and mathematics abilities were assessed at year 3.

RESULTS

Fine motor dexterity was significantly below age-adjusted norms at all data points but showed improvement over time. Baseline visual-motor integration was within the reference range but significantly declined by year 3, and mean scores at years 2 and 3 were significantly below age-adjusted norms. Verbal short-term memory was significantly below age-adjusted norms at all assessments. Visual-motor integration predicted reading and mathematics abilities. Verbal short-term memory predicted reading abilities, and visual short-term memory predicted mathematics abilities.

CONCLUSIONS

Central nervous system-directed therapy is associated with specific neurocognitive problems. Visual-spatial skills and verbal and visual short-term memory predict academic outcomes.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Early assessment of visual-spatial perception and short-term memory can identify children at risk of academic problems. Children who are at risk of academic problems could benefit from a school-based individual educational program and/or educational intervention.

Early numeracy skills in preschool-aged children: a review of neurocognitive findings and implications for assessment and intervention

OBJECTIVES

The goals are to (1) provide a review of the typical and atypical development of early numeracy; (2) present what is known about the neurocognitive underpinnings of early numeracy; and (3) discuss the implications for early assessment and intervention.

METHOD

Studies on the development of typical and atypical early numeracy are reviewed with a particular focus on longitudinal findings including those from our work on spina bifida myelomeningocele. Implications of this research for assessment are presented. The paper ends with a discussion of early math interventions.

RESULTS

Learning to count, identify numbers, and compare and manipulate quantities are key early numeracy skills. These are powerful predictors of school-age mathematical learning and performance. General neurocognitive abilities such as working memory and language, are also important for the development of early numeracy. It is recommended that early assessment for risk of mathematical learning difficulties include tests of both early number knowledge and key neurocognitive abilities. Math-specific interventions are most effective for improving early numeracy. There is currently little evidence that training of general cognitive functions transfers to mathematical learning.

CONCLUSION

Understanding the development of early numeracy skills and their neurocognitive predictors offer important insights into early assessment and intervention for children at risk for or with mathematical learning difficulties.

Functional neuroanatomy of arithmetic and word reading and its relationship to age

Arithmetic and written language are uniquely human skills acquired during early schooling and used daily. While prior studies have independently characterized the neural bases for arithmetic and reading, here we examine both skills in a single study to capture their shared and unique cognitive mechanisms, as well as the role of age/experience in modulating their neural representations. We used functional MRI in 7- to 29-year-olds who performed single-digit subtraction, single-digit addition, and single-word reading. Using a factorial design, we examined the main effects of Task (subtraction, addition, reading) and Age (as a continuous variable), and their interactions. A main effect of Task revealed preferential activation for subtraction in bilateral intraparietal sulci and supramarginal gyri, right insula, inferior frontal gyrus, and cingulate. The right middle temporal gyrus and left superior temporal gyrus were preferentially active for both addition and reading, and left fusiform gyrus was preferentially active for reading. A main effect of Age revealed increased activity in older participants in right angular gyrus, superior temporal sulcus, and putamen, and less activity in left supplementary motor area, suggesting a left frontal to right temporo-parietal shift of activity with increasing age/experience across all tasks. Interactions for Task by Age were found in right hippocampus and left middle frontal gyrus, with older age invoking greater activity for addition and at the same time less activity for subtraction and reading. Together, in a study conducted in the same participants using similar task and acquisition parameters, the results reveal the neural substrates of these educationally relevant cognitive skills in typical participants in the context of age/experience.

The Contribution of Numerical Magnitude Comparison and Phonological Processing to Individual Differences in Fourth Graders' Multiplication Fact Ability

Although numerical magnitude processing has been related to individual differences in arithmetic, its role in children’s multiplication performance remains largely unknown. On the other hand, studies have indicated that phonological awareness is an important correlate of individual differences in children’s multiplication performance, but the involvement of phonological memory, another important phonological processing skill, has not been studied in much detail. Furthermore, knowledge about the relative contribution of above mentioned processes to the specific arithmetic operation of multiplication in children is lacking. The present study therefore investigated for the first time the unique contributions of numerical magnitude comparison and phonological processing in explaining individual differences in 63 fourth graders’ multiplication fact ability (mean age = 9.6 years, SD = .67). The results showed that children’s multiplication fact competency correlated significantly with symbolic and nonsymbolic magnitude comparison as well as with phonological short-term memory. A hierarchical regression analysis revealed that, after controlling for intellectual ability and general reaction time, both symbolic and nonsymbolic magnitude comparison and phonological short-term memory accounted for unique variance in multiplication fact performance. The ability to compare symbolic magnitudes was found to contribute the most, indicating that the access to numerical magnitudes by means of Arabic digits is a key factor in explaining individual differences in children’s multiplication fact ability.

Developmental Delays in Executive Function from 3 to 5 Years of Age Predict Kindergarten Academic Readiness

Substantial evidence has established that individual differences in executive function (EF) in early childhood are uniquely predictive of children's academic readiness at school entry. The current study tested whether growth trajectories of EF across the early childhood period could be used to identify a subset of children who were at pronounced risk for academic impairment in kindergarten. Using data that were collected at the age 3, 4, and 5 home assessments in the Family Life Project ( N = 1,120), growth mixture models were used to identify 9% of children who exhibited impaired EF performance (i.e., persistently low levels of EF that did not show expected improvements across time). Compared to children who exhibited typical trajectories of EF, the delayed group exhibited substantial impairments in multiple indicators of academic readiness in kindergarten (Cohen's ds = 0.9-2.7; odds ratios = 9.8-23.8). Although reduced in magnitude following control for a range of socioeconomic and cognitive (general intelligence screener, receptive vocabulary) covariates, moderate-sized group differences remained (Cohen's ds = 0.2-2.4; odds ratios = 3.9-5.4). Results are discussed with respect to the use of repeated measures of EF as a method of early identification, as well as the resulting translational implications of doing so.

Neurocognitive predictors of mathematical processing in school-aged children with spina bifida and their typically developing peers: Attention, working memory, and fine motor skills

OBJECTIVE

Math and attention are related in neurobiological and behavioral models of mathematical cognition. This study employed model-driven assessments of attention and math in children with spina bifida myelomeningocele (SBM), who have known math difficulties and specific attentional deficits, to more directly examine putative relations between attention and mathematical processing. The relation of other domain general abilities and math was also investigated.

METHOD

Participants were 9.5-year-old children with SBM (n = 44) and typically developing children (n = 50). Participants were administered experimental exact and approximate arithmetic tasks, and standardized measures of math fluency and calculation. Cognitive measures included the Attention Network Test (ANT), and standardized measures of fine motor skills, verbal working memory (WM), and visual-spatial WM.

RESULTS

Children with SBM performed similarly to peers on exact arithmetic, but more poorly on approximate and standardized arithmetic measures. On the ANT, children with SBM differed from controls on orienting attention, but not on alerting and executive attention. Multiple mediation models showed that fine motor skills and verbal WM mediated the relation of group to approximate arithmetic; fine motor skills and visual-spatial WM mediated the relation of group to math fluency; and verbal and visual-spatial WM mediated the relation of group to math calculation. Attention was not a significant mediator of the effects of group for any aspect of math in this study.

CONCLUSION

Results are discussed with reference to models of attention, WM, and mathematical cognition.

Mathematics interventions for children and adolescents with Down syndrome: a research synthesis

BACKGROUND

Many children and adolescents with Down syndrome fail to achieve proficiency in mathematics. Researchers have suggested that tailoring interventions based on the behavioural phenotype may enhance efficacy.

METHOD

The research questions that guided this review were (1) what types of mathematics interventions have been empirically evaluated with children and adolescents with Down syndrome?; (2) do the studies demonstrate sufficient methodological rigor?; (3) is there evidence of efficacy for the evaluated mathematics interventions?; and (4) to what extent have researchers considered aspects of the behavioural phenotype in selecting, designing and/or implementing mathematics interventions for children and adolescents with Down syndrome? Nine studies published between 1989 and 2012 were identified for inclusion.

RESULTS

Interventions predominantly focused on early mathematics skills and reported positive outcomes. However, no study met criteria for methodological rigor. Further, no authors explicitly considered the behavioural phenotype.

CONCLUSIONS

Additional research using rigorous experimental designs is needed to evaluate the efficacy of mathematics interventions for children and adolescents with Down syndrome. Suggestions for considering the behavioural phenotype in future research are provided.

Explaining numeracy development in weak performing kindergartners

Gaining better insight into precursors of early numeracy in young children is important, especially in those with inadequate numeracy skills. Therefore, in the current study, visual and verbal working memory, non-symbolic and symbolic comparison skills, and specific math-related language were used to explain early numeracy performance and development of weak performing children throughout kindergarten. The early numeracy ability of both weak performers and typical performers was measured at four time points during 2 years of kindergarten to compare growth rates. Results show a significant faster development of early numeracy in the weak performers. The development of weak performers' numeracy was influenced by verbal working memory, symbolic comparison skills, and math language, whereas only math language was positively related to the slope of typical performers' numeracy. In the weak performers, visual working memory, non-symbolic comparison skills, and math language showed an effect on the initial early numeracy level of these children. The intercept of the typical performers was predicted by five covariates, all except non-symbolic comparison.

Mathematics development and difficulties: the role of visual-spatial perception and other cognitive skills

Several neurocognitive abilities, including visual-spatial and language-based processes, attention, and fine motor/finger skills, are thought to play important roles in mathematical development and disability. Evidence for relations of specific neurocognitive skills and mathematical development and disability is presented, with a particular emphasis on findings from longitudinal studies. Why these particular neurocognitive skills are related to math is also discussed. We suggest that mathematics learning in children with congenital and acquired neurodevelopmental disorders, including children treated for cancer, is particularly vulnerable to disruption because these disorders often affect one or more of the neurocognitive systems that support math learning and performance. Implications for assessment of and interventions for math difficulties are discussed. The article ends with implications for mathematical functioning in children treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia and brain tumors.