Children with mathematical difficulties need to spend more time than typically achieving children on solving even simple equations. Since these tasks already require a larger share of their cognitive resources, additional demands imposed by the need to switch between tasks may lead to a greater decline of performance in children with mathematical…

This study investigated the accuracy of three fraction measures (i.e., fraction number line estimation accuracy, general fraction concepts, and fraction arithmetic) for screening fourth graders who might be at risk for mathematics difficulties. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses assessed diagnostic accuracy of the fraction…

Three cohorts of third-grade students (N = 813) were evaluated on achievement, cognitive abilities, and behavioral attention according to contrasting research traditions in defining math learning disability (LD) status: low achievement versus extremely low achievement and IQ-achievement discrepant versus strictly low-achieving LD. We use methods…

Using 4 years of mathematics achievement scores, groups of typically achieving children (n = 101) and low achieving children with mild (LA-mild fact retrieval; n = 97) and severe (LA-severe fact retrieval; n = 18) fact retrieval deficits and mathematically learning disabled children (MLD; n = 15) were identified. Multilevel models contrasted…

There exists a substantial number of studies that have identified a subset of low-achieving mathematics students who do not develop a reliance on retrieval for simple addition but who continue to use a counting strategy to solve these problems. There are few studies, however, that have focused on how retrieval of simple addition facts may be…

Errors in written multi-digit computation were investigated in children with math difficulties. Third- and fourth-grade children (n = 291) with coexisting math and reading difficulties, math difficulties, reading difficulties, or no learning difficulties were compared. A second analysis compared those with severe math learning difficulties, low…

Between 5% and 8% of school-age children have some form of memory or cognitive deficit that interferes with their ability to learn concepts or procedures in one or more mathematical domains. A review of the arithmetical competencies of these children is provided, along with discussion of underlying memory and cognitive deficits and potential…

Twenty children with left or right hemisphere dysfunction and 10 controls were administered a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation. Results provide limited support for the hypothesis that the right hemisphere subserves attention and concentration but not for the hypothesis that right-hemisphere deficits are more frequently associated with…

Twenty elementary-grade boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and 20 nondisabled boys worked on an arithmetic task during either high stimulation (music), low stimulation (speech), and no stimulation (silence). Although nondisabled children performed similarly under all three auditory conditions, the children with ADHD did somewhat…

This study, involving 9 students (ages 8-11) with learning disabilities, found that 1 session of self-instruction training was not sufficiently powerful for students to learn a strategy for solving arithmetic problems, but a second session and access to tape-recorded cues resulted in improved performance. Effects did not generalize to student…