Mathematical difficulties in developmental coordination disorder: Symbolic and nonsymbolic number processing

Gomez, Alice; Piazza, Manuela; Jobert, Antoinette; Dehaene‐Lambertz, Ghislaine; Dehaene, Stanislas; Huron, Caroline

doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2015.06.011

Cited by 58 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…Moreover, they have important implications for UK educators ascribing to the belief that children with DCD (often referred to as 'dyspraxia') can be diagnosed on the basis of a 'spiky' profile showcasing higher VCI than PRI, and a dip in performance on the Block Design subtest (Grant, 2010). Very few studies specifically report Block Design performance, although notably a few do highlight poor performance on this task in comparison to a control group (Alloway, 2007;Gomez et al, 2015). The present findings, using a large sample, go against this claim of Block Design being a good discriminator of DCD but, as with many studies, replication of the present findings would strengthen the conclusions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining the cognitive profile of children with Developmental Coordination Disorder

Sumner

Pratt²,

Hill

2016

Research in Developmental Disabilities

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Examining the cognitive profile of children with Developmental Coordination DisorderBackground. While primarily a motor disorder, research considering the cognitive abilities in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is limited; even though these children often struggle academically.Aims. The present study aimed to characterise the IQ profile of children with and without DCD, and to identify whether children with DCD exhibit specific cognitive weaknesses.Methods and Procedures. 104 children participated in the study. Fifty-two children (mean age, 9 years) with a diagnosis of DCD were matched to 52 typically-developing children by age and gender. Cognitive ability was assessed using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV). Outcomes and Results.Children with DCD performed poorer than their peers on processing speed and working memory measures. Individual analyses revealed varied performance in the DCD group across all cognitive indices, despite displaying Full-Scale IQs in the typical range. Discriminant function analyses show processing speed and working memory performance predicted only 23% of between-group variability. Conclusions.Children with DCD present with a heterogeneous cognitive profile, lending support to individual case analyses in research and when designing educational assistance plans. The motorically-demanding nature of the WISC-IV processing speed tasks raises specific concerns about using this index of the IQ assessment in this population. Research and practical implications are raised. What this paper adds?Intellectual (cognitive) abilities are assessed in research and clinical practice. A link between cognitive and motor skill is often reported in the typically-developing literature, but little is known about the cognitive profile of children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). This paper provides a comprehensive assessment of a range of cognitive abilities, using the popular Wechsler scales. For the first time, it shows that children with DCD perform poorly on only the processing speed and working memory measures, in comparison to their peers. However, the motor demands of processing speed tasks can in part explain these results. Moreover, a heterogeneous cognitive profile was identified in the DCD group. Analysis of individual differences shows that children with DCD do not present with a distinct IQ profile. This suggests that attention should be paid to individual case analyses in order to understand the relationship between motor skill and IQ. The paper addresses the risk of identifying DCD on the basis of an IQ profile, and encourages all practitioners to adhere to the standard diagnostic procedures identified in the DSM-5.3

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining the cognitive profile of children with Developmental Coordination Disorder

Sumner

Pratt²,

Hill

2016

Research in Developmental Disabilities

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“…Furthermore, dyscalculic children have often been found to have poorer numerosity thresholds (Mazzocco, Feigenson, & Halberda, 2011;Piazza et al, 2010) -but see also Rousselle and Noel (2007) for a different account. Besides, the investigation of numerosity perception is expanding to other developmental disorders like autism , motor coordination disorders (Gomez et al, 2015) and preterm children (Hellgren, Halberda, Forsman, Ådén, & Libertus, 2013;Tinelli et al, 2015).…”

Section: Items Connection Affects Ans and Texture-density 140mentioning

confidence: 99%

Connecting visual objects reduces perceived numerosity and density for sparse but not dense patterns

et al. 2017

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How is numerosity encoded by the visual system? -directly, or derived indirectly from texture density? We recently suggested that the numerosity of sparse patterns is encoded directly by dedicated mechanisms (which have been described as the "Approximate Number System" ANS). However, at high dot densities, where items become "crowded" and difficult to segregate, "texture-density" mechanisms come into play. Here we tested the importance of item segmentation on numerosity and density perception at various stimulus densities, by measuring the effect of connecting visual objects with thin lines. The results confirmed many previous studies showing that connecting items robustly reduces the apparent numerosity of patterns of moderate density. We further showed that the apparent density of moderatedensity patterns is also reduced by connecting the dots. Crucially, we found that both these effects are strongly reduced at higher numerosities. Indeed for density judgments, the effect reverses, so connecting dots in dense patterns increases the apparent density (as expected from the physical characteristics). The results provide clear support for the three-regime framework of number perception, and suggest that for moderately sparse stimuli, numerosity -but not texture-density -is perceived directly.

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“…Although it is a heterogeneous disorder (4) with different phenotypes (5), it can be characterized by a persistent motor impairment that negatively affects daily living activities and/or academic achievement and cannot better be explained by intellectual disability or an underlying neurological condition (1). Posture, motor learning, and sensorimotor coordination are the main areas of functional difficulties experienced by children with DCD (6).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural Signature of DCD: A Critical Review of MRI Neuroimaging Studies

et al. 2016

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The most common neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., developmental dyslexia (DD), autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)) have been the subject of numerous neuroimaging studies, leading to certain brain regions being identified as neural correlates of these conditions, referring to a neural signature of disorders. Developmental coordination disorder (DCD), however, remains one of the least understood and studied neurodevelopmental disorders. Given the acknowledged link between motor difficulties and brain features, it is surprising that so few research studies have systematically explored the brains of children with DCD. The aim of the present review was to ascertain whether it is currently possible to identify a neural signature for DCD, based on the 14 magnetic resonance imaging neuroimaging studies that have been conducted in DCD to date. Our results indicate that several brain areas are unquestionably linked to DCD: cerebellum, basal ganglia, parietal lobe, and parts of the frontal lobe (medial orbitofrontal cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex). However, research has been too sparse and studies have suffered from several limitations that constitute a serious obstacle to address the question of a well-established neural signature for DCD.

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Mathematical difficulties in developmental coordination disorder: Symbolic and nonsymbolic number processing

Cited by 58 publications

References 72 publications

Examining the cognitive profile of children with Developmental Coordination Disorder

Examining the cognitive profile of children with Developmental Coordination Disorder

Connecting visual objects reduces perceived numerosity and density for sparse but not dense patterns

Neural Signature of DCD: A Critical Review of MRI Neuroimaging Studies

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