It is known that an appropriately developed foundational number sense (FONS), or the ability to operate flexibly with number and quantity, is a powerful predictor of young children's later mathematical achievement. However, until now not only has FONS been definitionally elusive but instruments for identifying opportunities for children to acquire…

Little is known about adult siblings of individuals with autism. We report on cognitive, social and mental health outcomes in 87 adult siblings (mean age 39 years). When younger all had been assessed either as being "unaffected" by autism (n = 69) or as meeting criteria for the "Broader Autism Phenotype" (BAP, n = 18). As…

In the Western world, most 5-year-old children begin their formal schooling, and do so with diverse proficiencies. A common aim is for teachers to quickly evaluate their proficiencies to identify strengths and gaps, and then begin the teaching of reading and number. This article reports two studies into the item and structural characteristics of a…

Low basic skills levels of adults are a complex policy problem which has neither straightforward causes nor solutions, and successful interventions are still relatively rare. Tackling serious literacy and numeracy weaknesses among adults is challenging, partly because the task itself is difficult, and partly because even if accomplished…

A latent profile analysis of 323 economically and academically at-risk adolescent and young adult learners yielded two classes: an average literacy class (92%) and a low literacy class (8%). The class profiles significantly differed in their word reading and math skills, and in their processing speeds and self-reported learning disabilities. The…

Anecdotal evidence suggests that Irish primary teachers, and particularly those working in disadvantaged schools, are coming under increasing pressure to orient their practices towards satisfying the exigencies of accountability and performativity (Conway, P. F., and R. Murphy. 2013. "A Rising Tide Meets a Perfect Storm: New Accountabilities…

Quantitative literacy (QLT) represents an underlying higher-order construct that accounts for a person's willingness to engage in quantitative situations in everyday life. The purpose of this study is to retest the construct validity of a model of quantitative literacy (Wilkins, 2010). In this model, QLT represents a second-order factor that…

Children's cognitive development has a neural basis, yet children's learning is facilitated by interactions with more knowledgeable others. Young children experience such interactions in the context of the home learning environment (HLE), when parents support children's thinking and learning during everyday activities. Consequently, one way to…

The aim of this article is to exploit an unusual occurrence whereby a large group of South African grade 3 students were tested twice, 1 month apart, on the same test in different languages. Using a simplified difference-in-difference methodology, it becomes possible to identify the causal impact of writing a test in English when English is not a…

In 2015, a new MTeach coursework unit, "Numeracy for Learners and Teachers," was introduced at Monash University. The impetuses for this unit were the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership numeracy standards for graduate teachers, and the inclusion of numeracy as a general capability in the Australian Curriculum. In…

Early childhood interventions that target numeracy, language, and literacy skills can help to mitigate negative educational outcomes among young children from low- to middle-income families in developing countries. The current study evaluates the efficacy of parent coaching programs designed to enrich home numeracy and literacy environments in…

Despite well-documented attention deficits in children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), distinctions across types of attention problems and their association with academic attainment has not been fully explored. This study examines visual attention capacities and inattentive/hyperactive behaviours in 77 children aged 4 to…

Research Findings: Children who speak English are slower to learn the counting sequence between 11 and 20 compared to children who speak Asian languages. In the present research, we examined whether providing children with spatially relevant information during counting would facilitate their acquisition of the counting sequence. Three-year-olds…

In 2000-2002 an innovative early years curriculum, the Enriched Curriculum (EC), was introduced into 120 volunteer schools across Northern Ireland, replacing a traditional curriculum similar to others across the UK at that time. It was intended by the designers to be developmentally appropriate and play-based with the primary goal of preventing…

There has been a shift in the training of numeracy teachers in England away from a highly regulated "standards-based" approach to teacher training towards one that seeks to engage employer groups and stakeholders in determining the training needs of teachers in further education. This shift has taken place within the context of rapid…