Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Counting in sign language.

Jacqueline Leybaert1, Marie-Noëlle Van Cutsem

  • 1Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium. leybaert@ulb.ac.be

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
|March 14, 2002
PubMed
Summary

Deaf children show developmental lags in number sequence knowledge due to sign language structure but excel in practical counting tasks. Their counting skills surpass predictions based on their linguistic number sequence understanding.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Audiovisual Integration in Cued Speech Perception: Impact on Speech Recognition in Quiet and Noise Among Adults With Hearing Loss and Those With Typical Hearing.

Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR·2025
Same author

Orthographic Learning in French-Speaking Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children.

Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR·2024
Same author

The Effect of Cued-Speech (CS) Perception on Auditory Processing in Typically Hearing (TH) Individuals Who Are Either Naïve or Experienced CS Producers.

Brain sciences·2023
Same author

Cortical tracking of speech in noise accounts for reading strategies in children.

PLoS biology·2020
Same author

The Neural Basis of Speech Perception through Lipreading and Manual Cues: Evidence from Deaf Native Users of Cued Speech.

Frontiers in psychology·2017
Same author

Children with Autism Understand Indirect Speech Acts: Evidence from a Semi-Structured Act-Out Task.

PloS one·2015

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Development
  • Linguistics
  • Developmental Psychology

Background:

  • The structure of number sequences in language impacts numerical cognition.
  • Belgian French Sign Language uses a base-5 number system, unlike the base-10 system in oral French.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the influence of visuomanual modality and number sequence structure on counting development in deaf children.
  • To compare the counting abilities of deaf children with hearing children.

Main Methods:

  • Assessed abstract counting, object counting, and set creation in hearing and deaf children.
  • Analyzed accuracy and use of number sequence strings.
  • Participants ranged in age from 3 years 4 months to 6 years 2 months.

Main Results:

  • Deaf children exhibited age-related lags in number sequence knowledge, with errors reflecting sign language rules.
  • Deaf children's performance in object counting and set creation was comparable to hearing children with more advanced number sequence knowledge.
  • This suggests a dissociation between linguistic number sequence knowledge and counting abilities in deaf children.

Conclusions:

  • The base-5 structure of sign language number sequences influences deaf children's numerical development.
  • Deaf children demonstrate robust counting skills, indicating effective use of counting principles despite linguistic sequence limitations.
  • Visuomanual modality and language structure interact to shape numerical cognition in early development.

Related Experiment Videos