Early identification battery for children at risk for long-term mathematics difficulties¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 7 claims (7 for) · 2 studies (2 associational), q3 · 0 of 2 report an effect size · 7 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article recommends that children at risk for long-term mathematics difficulties can be identified before age four using an assessment battery including "cardinal knowledge, count list, enumeration, letter recognition, and executive function measures." Numeral recognition might substitute for letter recognition given their strong correlation (r = .71), though letter recognition may be more useful due to greater variance. This battery enables early identification of children likely to become delayed CPKs.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Assessment battery must include cardinal knowledge, count list, enumeration, letter recognition, and executive function measures

Constraints¶

• Data are correlational; firm conclusions require experimental or intervention studies

Target Learners¶

• preschool children under age four
• children at risk for academic failure

Target Learning Goals¶

• early identification of mathematics learning risk
• cardinal value understanding

Claims¶

• Early CPKs show quantitative advantages beyond their domain-general advantages, while delayed CPKs' quantitative deficits are largely secondary except for enumeration [+W]
• Deficits in executive function and letter recognition predict delayed cardinal principle knower status [+W]
• A combination of full scale IQ, letter recognition, enumeration, and discrete quantity discrimination predicts the time of becoming a cardinal principle knower across preschool [+W]
• There is a linear relation between CPK timing and performance on most domain-general and quantitative measures [+W]
• Numeral recognition is the strongest predictor of early cardinal principle knower status, with a 1 SD increase yielding a 3.5-fold increase in odds [+W]
• Children from college households know more numerals than children from other households, controlling IQ and executive function [+W]
• ANS acuity correlates with later number sets fluency but does not emerge as a unique predictor once symbolic knowledge is controlled [+W]

Related Strategies¶

• Assess Arabic numeral identification and symbolic magnitude estimation to identify children likely to struggle with math
• Use the SYMP Test as a quick screening measure to identify children at risk for mathematical difficulties or dyscalculia

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Geary David C., vanMarle Kristy, Chu Felicia W., Hoard Mary K., Nugent Lara. (2019). Predicting Age of Becoming a Cardinal Principle Knower. Journal of Educational Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000277