Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 5, 2026

Measuring Statistical Learning Across Modalities and Domains in School-Aged Children Via an Online Platform and Neuroimaging Techniques
Published on: June 30, 2020
Can we predict mathematical learning disabilities from symbolic and non-symbolic comparison tasks in kindergarten?
Annemie Desoete1, Annelies Ceulemans, Frauke De Weerdt
1University Ghent, Belgium. desoete@ugent.be
Background:
The ability to compare numbers, as the most basic form of number sense, has been related to arithmetical achievement.
Aims:
The current study addressed the predictive value of non-symbolic and symbolic (number word (NW) and Arabic number (AN)) comparison for arithmetics by means of a longitudinal design.
Sample:
Sixteen children with mathematical disabilities (MD), 64 low achievers (LA), and 315 typical achieving (TA) children were followed from kindergarten till grade 2.
Method:
The association of comparison skills with arithmetical skills in grades l and 2 was studied. The performances of MD, LA and TA children were compared.
Results:
Regression analyses showed that non-symbolic skills in kindergarten were predictively related to arithmetical achievement 1 year later and fact retrieval 2 years later. AN comparison was predictively related to procedural calculation 2 years later. In grade 2, there was an association between both symbolic tasks and arithmetical achievement. Children with MD already had deficits in non-symbolic and symbolic AN comparison in kindergarten, whereas in grade 2 the deficits in processing symbolic information remained.
Conclusions:
The combination of non-symbolic and symbolic deficits represents a risk of developing MD.
Related Concept Videos
Learning Disabilities
Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a...
Piaget's Stage 2 of Cognitive Development
Language and Cognition
Binet's Contribution to Measures of Intelligence

