[Children with a specific weakness in mathematics in a referred population]

In the present study children with dycalculia were described and compared with children with specific reading and spelling disabilities and children without clinical diagnosis. All children were referred to a child psychiatric outpatient and inpatient department. The comparison was carried out over clinical data drawn from the general data documentation and from written case reports including diagnostical, anamnestical, symptomatological and developmental neurological data. More than 50% of the dyscalculic children displayed other child psychiatric disorders, especially emotional disorders. It is questioned in the light of developmental psychological understanding if the developmental neurological deficits of the dyscalculic children can be seen as etiological significant in the sense of basical disorders concerning the deficient development of stable conceptions of an inner number space.