Discerning Developmental Dyscalculia and Neurodevelopmental Models of Numerical Cognition in a Disadvantaged Educational Context
Developmental Dyscalculia (DD) signifies a failure in representing quantities, which impairs the performance of basic math operations and schooling achievement during childhood. The lack of specificity in assessment measures and respective cut-offs are the most challenging factors to identify childr...
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MDPI AG
2022-05-01
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| author | Flavia H. Santos Fabiana S. Ribeiro Ana Luiza Dias-Piovezana Caterina Primi Ann Dowker Michael von Aster |
| author_facet | Flavia H. Santos Fabiana S. Ribeiro Ana Luiza Dias-Piovezana Caterina Primi Ann Dowker Michael von Aster |
| author_sort | Flavia H. Santos |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Developmental Dyscalculia (DD) signifies a failure in representing quantities, which impairs the performance of basic math operations and schooling achievement during childhood. The lack of specificity in assessment measures and respective cut-offs are the most challenging factors to identify children with DD, particularly in disadvantaged educational contexts. This research is focused on a numerical cognition battery for children, designed to diagnose DD through 12 subtests. The aims of the present study were twofold: to examine the prevalence of DD in a country with generally low educational attainment, by comparing z-scores and percentiles, and to test three neurodevelopmental models of numerical cognition based on performance in this battery. Participants were 304 Brazilian school children aged 7–12 years of both sexes (143 girls), assessed by the Zareki-R. Performances on subtests and the total score increase with age without gender differences. The prevalence of DD was 4.6% using the fifth percentile and increased to 7.4% via z-score (in total 22 out of 304 children were diagnosed with DD). We suggest that a minus 1.5 standard deviation in the total score of the Zareki-R is a useful criterion in the clinical or educational context. Nevertheless, a percentile ≤ 5 seems more suitable for research purposes, especially in developing countries because the socioeconomic environment or/and educational background are strong confounder factors to diagnosis. The four-factor structure, based on von Aster and Shalev’s model of numerical cognition (Number Sense, Number Comprehension, Number Production and Calculation), was the best model, with significant correlations ranging from 0.89 to 0.97 at the 0.001 level. |
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| id | doaj.art-010cae90da3448faa509a90b6f17056e |
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| issn | 2076-3425 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:14:11Z |
| publishDate | 2022-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Brain Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-010cae90da3448faa509a90b6f17056e2023-11-23T10:18:29ZengMDPI AGBrain Sciences2076-34252022-05-0112565310.3390/brainsci12050653Discerning Developmental Dyscalculia and Neurodevelopmental Models of Numerical Cognition in a Disadvantaged Educational ContextFlavia H. Santos0Fabiana S. Ribeiro1Ana Luiza Dias-Piovezana2Caterina Primi3Ann Dowker4Michael von Aster5Affective, Behavioural and Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, University College Dublin, D04 V1W8 Dublin, IrelandDepartment of Social Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences, University of Luxembourg, L-4366 Esch-Sur-Alzette, LuxembourgFaculty of Sciences, São Paulo State University, Bauru 17033-360, BrazilDepartment of Neuroscience, University of Florence, 50139 Florence, ItalyDepartment of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6GG, UKDepartment of Psychology, University of Potsdam, 14469 Potsdam, GermanyDevelopmental Dyscalculia (DD) signifies a failure in representing quantities, which impairs the performance of basic math operations and schooling achievement during childhood. The lack of specificity in assessment measures and respective cut-offs are the most challenging factors to identify children with DD, particularly in disadvantaged educational contexts. This research is focused on a numerical cognition battery for children, designed to diagnose DD through 12 subtests. The aims of the present study were twofold: to examine the prevalence of DD in a country with generally low educational attainment, by comparing z-scores and percentiles, and to test three neurodevelopmental models of numerical cognition based on performance in this battery. Participants were 304 Brazilian school children aged 7–12 years of both sexes (143 girls), assessed by the Zareki-R. Performances on subtests and the total score increase with age without gender differences. The prevalence of DD was 4.6% using the fifth percentile and increased to 7.4% via z-score (in total 22 out of 304 children were diagnosed with DD). We suggest that a minus 1.5 standard deviation in the total score of the Zareki-R is a useful criterion in the clinical or educational context. Nevertheless, a percentile ≤ 5 seems more suitable for research purposes, especially in developing countries because the socioeconomic environment or/and educational background are strong confounder factors to diagnosis. The four-factor structure, based on von Aster and Shalev’s model of numerical cognition (Number Sense, Number Comprehension, Number Production and Calculation), was the best model, with significant correlations ranging from 0.89 to 0.97 at the 0.001 level.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/12/5/653developmental dyscalculiaprevalenceneuropsychology |
| spellingShingle | Flavia H. Santos Fabiana S. Ribeiro Ana Luiza Dias-Piovezana Caterina Primi Ann Dowker Michael von Aster Discerning Developmental Dyscalculia and Neurodevelopmental Models of Numerical Cognition in a Disadvantaged Educational Context Brain Sciences developmental dyscalculia prevalence neuropsychology |
| title | Discerning Developmental Dyscalculia and Neurodevelopmental Models of Numerical Cognition in a Disadvantaged Educational Context |
| title_full | Discerning Developmental Dyscalculia and Neurodevelopmental Models of Numerical Cognition in a Disadvantaged Educational Context |
| title_fullStr | Discerning Developmental Dyscalculia and Neurodevelopmental Models of Numerical Cognition in a Disadvantaged Educational Context |
| title_full_unstemmed | Discerning Developmental Dyscalculia and Neurodevelopmental Models of Numerical Cognition in a Disadvantaged Educational Context |
| title_short | Discerning Developmental Dyscalculia and Neurodevelopmental Models of Numerical Cognition in a Disadvantaged Educational Context |
| title_sort | discerning developmental dyscalculia and neurodevelopmental models of numerical cognition in a disadvantaged educational context |
| topic | developmental dyscalculia prevalence neuropsychology |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/12/5/653 |
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