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…

The investigation of developmental reading and spelling disorders within the framework provided by cognitive neuropsychology has yielded interesting results for several alphabetic orthographies, for example English, Italian, and French. However, this approach has not attracted much attention in German speaking countries up to now. The following…

Children with mathematics difficulties suffer from working memory deficits. This study investigated the deficit profile of phonological storage and executive functions in working memory among children with mathematics difficulties. Based on multiple instruments and two assessment points, 68 children were screened out of 805 fifth graders. Of these…

This study aims to investigate the types of difficulty encountered by children with nonverbal (visuospatial) learning disabilities (NLD) during the processing of spatial information derived from descriptions. Two spatial descriptions--one in survey, one in route perspective--and one nonspatial description were orally presented to children aged…

Developmental dyscalculia (DD) is a deficit in number processing and arithmetic that affects 3-6% of schoolchildren. The goal of the present study was to analyze cerebral bases of DD related to symbolic number processing. Children with DD aged 9-11 years and matched children with no learning disability history were investigated using fMRI. The two…

In four carefully selected samples of 8- to 10-year old children with dyslexia (but age adequate arithmetic skills), dyscalculia (but age adequate reading skills), dyslexia/dyscalculia and controls a domain-general deficit in rapid automatized naming (RAN) was found for both dyslexia groups. Dyscalculic children exhibited a domain-specific deficit…

Executive dysfunction is thought to be primary to autism. We examined differences in executive function between 20 adults with autism and learning disability and 23 individuals with learning disabilities outside the autistic spectrum. All participants were matched for chronological age and full-scale IQ, and were given a battery of tasks assessing…

Analogical reasoning--perceiving similarities in different situations and the transfer of such information--facilitates learning and understanding. However, children with learning disabilities (LD) typically demonstrate deficits in such information processing strategies. In this study, we investigated the analogical problem-solving differences…

The aims of this study were to investigate whether the executive functions, inhibition, shifting, and updating, are distinguishable as latent variables (common factors) in children aged 9 to 12, and to examine the relations between these executive functions and reading, arithmetic, and (non)verbal reasoning. Confirmatory factor analysis was used…

A recent proposal suggests that dyslexic individuals suffer from attentional deficiencies, which impair the ability to selectively process incoming visual information. To investigate this possibility, we employed a spatial cueing procedure in conjunction with a single fixation visual search task measuring thresholds for discriminating the…

The article outlines specific procedures for analyzing student errors and using the information gained as a tool for making appropriate assessment and instructional decisions. (DLS)

There is need for early group assessment aimed at prevention of learning disorders, specifically reading disorders. An estimated 15% of elementary and secondary school students are reported to be handicapped in the area of reading. Early screening and matching of the learning ability of children with instructional programs holds promise to…

Learning-disabled ninth-graders (n=58) completed a modified Piagetian isolation-of-variables task, and were compared to normally achieving ninth-graders and fourth-graders. Through cluster analysis, four different patterns of task approach were identified, representing normal performance, general conceptual disorder, specific developmental delay,…