Emotional and Behavioral Characteristics Over a Six-Year Period in Youths With Persistent and Nonpersistent Dyscalculia

Abstract

The authors examined behavior problems in a matched sample of 58 youths with persistent dyscalculia (PD) and nonpersistent dyscalculia (NPD). Participants were classified as having dyscalculia at age 10-11 years. Parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist for their children at ages 10-11, 13-14, and 16-17 years, while the youths did so at the last two age periods. Only at age 16-17 years were there significantly more problems, particularly attention problems and externalizing problems, reported by parents for PD youths compared to NPD youths. A higher percentage in the PD group than in the NPD group received scores in the clinical range for externalizing problems. However, the mean levels of behavior problems at this age and the earlier ages were within the normal range for both groups. For youth-reported problems, the only significant difference was for attention problems at 16-17 years. Therapeutic interventions should focus on the academic domain and improving and altering behavioral patterns.

Mathematics Achievement and Anxiety and Their Relation to Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors

“…These findings are consistent with previous reports by Auerbach and colleagues (2008) and Shalev and colleagues (1995). Consequently, the data did not support our hypotheses that levels of internalizing symptoms would differ as a function of math achievement group.…”

Diagnostics and Intervention in Developmental Dyscalculia: Current Issues and Novel Perspectives

“…When then evaluating the comorbidity rate of any two developmental disorders, it is very likely to find these rate being inflated by the preselection of the sample. This skepticism regarding the reported comorbidity rates is also corroborated by a recent study on dyscalculia by Auerbach et al (2008). The authors assessed behavioral problems in a sample of adolescents with persistent dyscalculia.…”

Adolescents with Developmental Dyscalculia Do Not Have a Generalized Magnitude Deficit – Processing of Discrete and Continuous Magnitudes

“…DD has a prevalence of about 3–7% (Gross-Tsur et al, 1996; Wyschkon et al, 2009) and a persisting character (Shalev et al, 1998, 2005). It can further result in behavioral-emotional problems (Auerbach et al, 2008) and reduced employment opportunities (Parsons and Bynner, 2005). Children with DD show a variety of numerical deficits such as counting, magnitude processing, spatial number representation and fact retrieval (Geary, 1993; Landerl et al, 2004; Rousselle and Noël, 2007; Mussolin et al, 2010b; Landerl, 2013); for an overview see Kucian and von Aster (2015).…”