Include verbal number skill interventions in early programs for children at family-risk of dyslexia¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 6 claims (6 for) · 1 study (1 associational), q3 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 6 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article recommends that early intervention programs for children at family-risk of dyslexia, which typically focus on phonological awareness for literacy, should also address verbal number skills. Because "counting and number knowledge mediate the association between language and arithmetic skills, intervention programs targeting these skills ... are likely to be helpful for improving number skills in preschool children at risk for dyslexia."

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Interventions must target counting and number knowledge, the mediating verbal number skills identified in the path model

Constraints¶

• The recommendation rests on the study's longitudinal mediation findings rather than a trial of the intervention itself

Target Learners¶

• preschool children at family-risk of dyslexia

Target Learning Goals¶

• counting skills
• number knowledge
• arithmetic readiness

Claims¶

• Children at family-risk of dyslexia perform more poorly than typically developing controls on the cognitive foundations of arithmetic and on arithmetic itself [+W]
• The same cognitive processes account for variability in arithmetic skills in children at family-risk of dyslexia and typically developing controls [+W]
• Preschool counting skills and number knowledge directly predict formal arithmetic skills in primary school, together accounting for 40–46% of variance [+W]
• Early language and executive skills at age 3–4 predict preschool counting and number knowledge, which mediate their influence on later arithmetic [+W]
• Phonological awareness at age 4–5 does not predict later arithmetic skills despite being predicted by early oral language [+W]
• Executive skills, but not nonverbal IQ, at age 3–4 predict preschool counting and number knowledge [+W]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Moll K., Snowling M. J., Göbel S. M., Hulme C. (2015). Early language and executive skills predict variations in number and arithmetic skills in children at family-risk of dyslexia and typically developing controls. Learning and Instruction. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2015.03.004