Discerning Developmental Dyscalculia and Neurodevelopmental Models of Numerical Cognition in a Disadvantaged Educational Context
Open Access
- 16 May 2022
- journal article
- research article
- Published by MDPI AG in Brain Sciences
- Vol. 12 (5), 653
- https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12050653
Abstract
Developmental Dyscalculia (DD) signifies a failure in representing quantities, which impairs the performance of basic math operations and schooling achievement during childhood. The lack of specificity in assessment measures and respective cut-offs are the most challenging factors to identify children with DD, particularly in disadvantaged educational contexts. This research is focused on a numerical cognition battery for children, designed to diagnose DD through 12 subtests. The aims of the present study were twofold: to examine the prevalence of DD in a country with generally low educational attainment, by comparing z-scores and percentiles, and to test three neurodevelopmental models of numerical cognition based on performance in this battery. Participants were 304 Brazilian school children aged 7–12 years of both sexes (143 girls), assessed by the Zareki-R. Performances on subtests and the total score increase with age without gender differences. The prevalence of DD was 4.6% using the fifth percentile and increased to 7.4% via z-score (in total 22 out of 304 children were diagnosed with DD). We suggest that a minus 1.5 standard deviation in the total score of the Zareki-R is a useful criterion in the clinical or educational context. Nevertheless, a percentile ≤ 5 seems more suitable for research purposes, especially in developing countries because the socioeconomic environment or/and educational background are strong confounder factors to diagnosis. The four-factor structure, based on von Aster and Shalev’s model of numerical cognition (Number Sense, Number Comprehension, Number Production and Calculation), was the best model, with significant correlations ranging from 0.89 to 0.97 at the 0.001 level.Funding Information
- São Paulo Research Foundation (04/11.067-0)
This publication has 81 references indexed in Scilit:
- Dyscalculia from a developmental and differential perspectiveFrontiers in Psychology, 2013
- Gender differences in mathematics anxiety and the relation to mathematics performance while controlling for test anxietyBehavioral and Brain Functions, 2012
- Model selection and psychological theory: A discussion of the differences between the Akaike information criterion (AIC) and the Bayesian information criterion (BIC).Psychological Methods, 2012
- Meta-Analyses of Developmental fMRI Studies Investigating Typical and Atypical Trajectories of Number Processing and CalculationDevelopmental Neuropsychology, 2011
- Ensuring Positiveness of the Scaled Difference Chi-square Test StatisticPsychometrika, 2009
- Cognitive Characteristics of Children With Mathematics Learning Disability (MLD) Vary as a Function of the Cutoff Criterion Used to Define MLDJournal of Learning Disabilities, 2007
- Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternativesStructural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 1999
- Persistence of developmental dyscalculia: What counts?: Results from a 3-year prospective follow-up studyThe Journal of Pediatrics, 1998
- Estimating the Dimension of a ModelThe Annals of Statistics, 1978
- A new look at the statistical model identificationIEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 1974