Use the SYMP Test as a quick screening measure to identify children at risk for mathematical difficulties or dyscalculia¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 4 claims (4 for) · 1 study (1 design), q3 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article recommends administering the SYMP Test as an early screening tool: because symbolic magnitude comparison is robustly associated with mathematics achievement and children with MLD score lower on the test, "the test has the potential to be used as a screening measure to identify children who are at risk to develop mathematical difficulties at an early age." Its group administration takes about 10–15 minutes and requires little teacher training, making it usable by practitioners and in large-scale intervention research.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Administration by a trained test administrator in a classroom group session with stopwatch timing
• Use of both subtests together, since overall-score reliability exceeds single-subtest reliability

Constraints¶

• The article notes the data do not establish causal or predictive associations, so screening identifies risk rather than causes of difficulty
• No group differences between MLD and typically achieving children were found in Grade 6, limiting screening sensitivity in the oldest grade

Target Learners¶

• Primary school children in Grades 1–6, especially those at risk for mathematical difficulties or dyscalculia

Target Learning Goals¶

• Early identification of children at risk for mathematical difficulties to enable timely remedial intervention targeting numerical skills

Claims¶

• The SYMP Test shows convergent validity with a computerized version of the task and discriminant validity against spelling achievement [+W]
• SYMP Test performance correlates moderately and significantly with mathematics achievement in every grade of primary school, for both one-digit and two-digit comparison [+W]
• Typically achieving children outperform children with mathematical learning difficulties on the SYMP one-digit subtest in Grades 1–5 and the two-digit subtest in Grades 2–5, but not in Grade 6 [+W]
• The SYMP Test shows satisfactory test-retest reliability, with overall-score correlations between .72 and .86 across Grades 1–6 [+W]

Related Strategies¶

• Assess Arabic numeral identification and symbolic magnitude estimation to identify children likely to struggle with math
• Early identification battery for children at risk for long-term mathematics difficulties

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Brankaer, C., Ghesquière, P., & De Smedt, B. (2017). Symbolic magnitude processing in elementary school children: A group administered paper-and-pencil measure (SYMP Test). Behavior Research Methods, 49, 1361–1373. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-016-0792-3