Mathematical thinking in children with developmental language disorder: The roles of pattern skills and verbal working memory.
Emily R Fyfe, Lauren Eisenband Matz, Kayla M Hunt and 1 others
PMID 30472369WHAT IT FOUND
Children with developmental language disorder had weaker math and verbal working memory than matched peers, but similar pattern skills.
Pattern skill predicted calculation in both groups, while verbal working memory partly accounted for calculation differences.
Key findings
01Children with DLD performed more poorly than typically-developing children on arithmetic, inversion, and equivalence math tasks.
02Children with DLD and typically-developing children had similar accuracy on the pattern extension task.
03Lower verbal working memory in DLD accounted for some group difference in calculation, and pattern skill predicted calculation beyond group, age, IQ, and working memory.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study included only 36 children aged 6 to 13, all with nonverbal IQ scores at or above 85, so it says little about children with lower IQ or outside this age range. It used only a few math items and one pattern task, which produced very high or very low scores and may make the pattern result unstable. The children were tested in a single lab session, so the study shows relations at one time point, not that working memory or pattern skills cause math difficulties. The models explained only 47% of calculation scores and 42% of concept scores, leaving much of math performance unexplained. The sample came from one metropolitan area and was selected from a previous study, which may limit generalizability.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the link between pattern scores and calculation scores as proof that pattern training will improve math. The study measured skills in one session and did not test any intervention.