A Meta-Analysis on the Differences in Mathematical and Cognitive Skills Between Individuals With and Without Mathematical Learning Disabilities

Abstract

Types of mathematical learning disability (MLD) are very heterogeneous. Lower scores on mathematics and several cognitive skills have been revealed in samples with MLD compared with those with typical development (TD), but these studies vary in sample selection, making it difficult to generalize conclusions. Furthermore, many studies have investigated only one or few cognitive skills, making it difficult to compare their relative discrepancies. The current meta-analysis (k = 145) was conducted to (a) give a state-of-the-art overview of the mathematical and cognitive skills associated with MLD and (b) investigate how selection criteria influence conclusions regarding this topic. Results indicated that people with MLD display lower scores not only on mathematics but also on number sense, working memory, and rapid automatized naming compared with those with TD, in general independently of the criteria used to define MLD. A profile that distinguishes people with more serious, persistent, or specific MLD from those with less severe MLD was not detected.

Developmental profiles of arithmetic fluency skills from grades 1 to 9 and their early identification.

“…This suggests that the early advantages of cognitive skills, motivational factors, and parental factors were reflected in the strong start in the arithmetic skills observed in those belonging to the profile with precocious onset. This is consistent with the vast literature indicating that lower performance in early cognitive skills (e.g., Hoff et al, 2023; Geary et al, 2018; Koponen et al, 2019; Kroesbergen et al, 2022; Nelson & Powell, 2018; Pulkkinen et al, 2022), family risk for math difficulties (e.g., Khanolainen et al, 2020; Soares et al, 2018), less rich home numeracy environment (e.g., Kleemans et al, 2012; Lehrl et al, 2020), and lower motivation (e.g., Cai et al, 2018; Hirvonen et al, 2012; Vasalampi et al, 2020) are associated with lower arithmetic skills. This interpretation is also supported by the several differences that were identified between the profiles with precocious and delayed onsets.…”

Developmental Profiles of Arithmetic Fluency Skills from Grades 1 to 9 and their Early Identification

“…Our findings suggest that kindergarten cognitive skills are strong predictors. These results are in line with previous studies showing that various early numerical and non-numerical cognitive skills can be important indicators for later arithmetic skills development (e.g., Bernabini et al, 2021;Cirino et al, 2018;Geary et al, 2018;Koponen et al, 2019;Kroesbergen et al, 2022;Malone et al, 2019;Nelson & Powell, 2018;Peng et al, 2018). It is worth noting that the math-related cognitive skills contributed to differences between the identified profiles even after taking into account the contributions of skills that are typically more related to reading (i.e., phonological awareness, letter knowledge, word reading), suggesting that they have a unique predictive association with arithmetic skills even after controlling the shared variance with the reading-related skills.…”

“…This suggests that the early advantages of cognitive numerical and non-numerical skills, motivational factors, and parental factors were reflected in the strong start in the arithmetic skills observed in those belonging to the profile with precocious onset. This is consistent with the vast literature indicating that lower performance in early cognitive skills (e.g., Amland et al, 2021;Geary et al, 2018;Koponen et al, 2019;Kroesbergen et al, 2022;Nelson & Powell, 2018;Pulkkinen et al, 2022), family risk for math difficulties (e.g., Khanolainen et al, 2020;Soares et al, 2018), less rich home numeracy environment (e.g., Kleemens et al, 2012;Lehrl et al, 2020), and lower motivation (e.g., Cai et al, 2018;Hirvonen et al, 2012) are associated with lower arithmetic skills. This interpretation is also supported by the several differences that were identified between the profiles with precocious and delayed onsets.…”

“…Complex mathematics includes more complex procedures in which stepwise problem solving is required, as well as word problems. Individuals with math difficulties have often been found to have comparable difficulties with both basic and complex mathematics skills (Kroesbergen et al, 2022), most likely because difficulties with basic mathematics will influence their performance on more complex mathematics tasks (Kleemans et al, 2018), leading to difficulties over the whole spectrum of mathematics skills.…”

“…Given the association between the development of basic and complex math skills (Kleemans et al, 2018;Kroesbergen et al, 2022) Zhang & Lin, 2015), counting (e.g., Bernabini et al, 2021;Cirino et al, 2018;Koponen et al, 2019;Nelson & Powell, 2018), number concepts (Geary et al, 2018;Kroesbergen et al, 2022), and RAN (Donker et al, 2016;Kroesbergen et al, 2022;Pulkkinen et al, 2022). In addition, a recent metaanalysis showed that also various language skills, namely phonological awareness, RAN, vocabulary, and listening comprehension, correlate moderately to highly with mathematics (Peng et al, 2020).…”