Knowledge of Mathematical Equivalence in Children With Specific Language Impairment: Insights From Gesture and Speech

Abstract

Purpose This study investigated understanding of mathematical equivalence in children with and without specific language impairment (SLI). Method A total of 34 children (ages 8;1 [years;months] to 11;7), including 9 with expressive SLI (E-SLI), 8 with expressive and receptive SLI (ER-SLI), and 17 age-matched typically developing (TD) children completed addition and mathematical equivalence problems. The problem-solving strategies revealed in solutions and in gestural and verbal explanations were coded. Results The children with SLI were less accurate than their TD peers in solving addition and equivalence problems. None of the children in the ER-SLI group solved the equivalence problems correctly; however, the number of children who solved any of the equivalence problems correctly did not differ in the E-SLI and TD groups. Children in the ER-SLI group tended to express incorrect strategies for solving the equivalence problems in both gesture and speech, whereas children in the E-SLI group often expressed correct strategies in gestures, but incorrect strategies in speech. Conclusion Children with SLI showed delays in their knowledge of mathematical equivalence. Children with ER-SLI displayed greater delays than children with E-SLI. Children with E-SLI sometimes expressed more advanced knowledge in gestures, suggesting that their knowledge is represented in a nonverbal format.

Mathematical thinking in children with developmental language disorder: The roles of pattern skills and verbal working memory

“…First, the current study provides insight into the development of mathematics knowledge in children with developmental language disorders. Consistent with previous research (Alt et al, 2014; e.g., Donlan et al, 2007; Fazio, 1996; 1999; Koponen et al, 2006; Mainela-Arnold et al, 2011), children in the DLD group exhibited poorer calculation skills and less conceptual knowledge than children in the age-matched TD group. Specifically, children with developmental language disorders were less likely to solve arithmetic problems correctly, less likely to use a correct strategy to solve equivalence problems, and less likely to use the inversion shortcut on inversion problems.…”

Gesture Use and Processing: A Review on Individual Differences in Cognitive Resources

“…Moreover, research on clinical populations with communication and language delays suggests that although there are delays in gesture production in the first 2 years, gesture might be used to compensate for communication and language difficulties at preschool and school ages by some children ( Özçalışkan et al, 2013 ; LeBarton and Iverson, 2017 ). Children with language impairments (LI) used gestures at a higher rate and produced greater proportions of gestures that added unique information to the accompanying speech compared to typically developing (TD) peers, suggesting that children with LI employ gestures as an alternative channel of expression in the face of language difficulties ( Evans et al, 2001 ; Blake et al, 2008 ; Iverson and Braddock, 2011 ; Mainela-Arnold et al, 2011 , 2014 ).…”

Mathematical Abilities in Children With Developmental Language Disorder

“…Numerous studies have provided evidence for arithmetic deficits and difficulty with math fact retrieval in children with DLD throughout the school-aged years. Research in 6-to 11-year-olds with DLD has documented poor written addition and subtraction relative to controls (Alloway & Stein, 2014;Donlan et al, 2007;Kleemans, Segers, & Verhoeven, 2012Mainela-Arnold, Alibali, Ryan, & Evans, 2011;Willinger et al, 2017), poor accuracy on spoken arithmetic problems (Jordan, Levine, & Huttenlocher, 1995), and a strong correlation between arithmetic accuracy and fact retrieval of addition problems (Cowan et al, 2005). Accuracy on addition and subtraction tasks in children with DLD is also correlated with linguistic skills such as phonological awareness and grammatical ability, as well as general intelligence (Kleemans et al, 2012;Kleemans et al, 2013).…”