The understanding of counting in children with severe learning difficulties and nursery children

Little is known about the development of counting in children with severe learning difficulties (SLD) although early research has stressed the rote nature of children's understanding.

We investigated the attainments of children with SLD both with regard to their skills and understanding of counting and compared performance with typically developing preschoolers.

Twenty-five children with SLD (aged 7-14 years) matched to one group of preschoolers on the basis of their receptive language scores and to a second group using a broader measure, performance on a non-verbal intelligence test.

Children were presented with a simple counting task and an error detection task.

There were no differences between the SLD and preschool groups in the mean scores on either task. In each group more children were able to count than detect errors. However, analysis of their counting performance suggested a difference in the acquisition of counting skills. Furthermore, the SLD group included three transitional children-able to count competently but not able to detect errors. This pattern was not evident in the preschool groups: if the children were competent counters they were able to detect errors.

The acquisition of procedures for counting is an important first step in developing an understanding of counting. There is some evidence to suggest that children with SLD may have difficulty learning the number words and producing them whilst pointing to count items. We cannot assume that children with SLD will move smoothly towards an understanding of counting. These aspects warrant further investigation and raise the important question of what experiences best promote the acquisition of procedures and understanding in children with SLD.