Numerical competencies in preschoolers with language difficulties

Abstract

School children with specific language disorders (SLI) often experience massive learning difficulties that concern not only literacy but also numeracy. Since preschool basic numerical precursor competencies have a great influence on the later development of arithmetic at school, this chapter is interested in potential early difficulties in counting skills, numerical knowledge, understanding of quantities, and early arithmetic skills. Given the close link between learning difficulties and working memory, a second question is whether these potential early difficulties can be associated with functional problems of working memory. One of early childhood’s central developmental tasks lies in the development of language. Yet, not every child achieves the milestones of language development smoothly. Specific language disorders rank among the most frequently occurring developmental dysfunctions during childhood and adolescence, with a total incidence between 5% and 8%. Boys are affected three times as often as girls (Tomblin et al., 1997). The relevant individuals typically display anomalies in language acquisition which do not result from cognitive deficits, physical illness, impaired hearing, or lack of stimuli due to unfavorable or stressful surroundings. SLI is defined by a considerable deviation from normal speech and language development, both in quantity and in quality. Language production as well as language comprehension may be affected (World Health Organization, 2011). The most severe effects manifest themselves in the acquisition of grammatical structures, but also pragmatic competence may be affected (Leonard, 2014). Frequently, articulatory deficits can be detected; however, an isolated functional impairment of articulation does not justify the diagnosis of SLI (Leonard, 2014). Speech anomalies resulting from certain illnesses (i.e., autism) will be excluded from this consideration. These cases are rather referred to as unspecific or secondary language development impairments. Because of their speech difficulties, children suffering from SLI stand out at an early age. Language delay is a typical sign, along with a relatively small vocabulary and a late usage of phrases of two or more words (Desmarais et al., 2008). This initial deficit in language acquisition will further increase over the developmental course. While affected children show progress in language acquisition to some extent and are capable of understanding and producing simple sentences over the course of their development, they are never going to reach the level of individuals unaffected by SLI. Oftentimes, a number of accompanying