Van Luit Johannes E H, Toll Sylke W M
Department of Special Education, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Int J Lang Commun Disord. 2015 Sep-Oct;50(5):593-603. doi: 10.1111/1460-6984.12159. Epub 2015 Jul 14.
Growing attention has been paid to the possibility of supporting early numeracy in at-risk kindergartners. Furthermore, it is assumed that language proficiency is an important prerequisite in early maths skills.
To examine whether remedial early numeracy education in kindergarten, which has been proven to be effective in general, is also beneficial for children with a language deficiency.
METHODS & PROCEDURES: Based on intensive selection, four different conditions were included: two groups received remedial education, one consisting of children being language proficient (N = 86) and one of children with a language deficiency (N = 26), and two groups followed the regular curriculum, one consisting of children being language proficient (N = 51) and one of children with a language deficiency (N = 24). Remedial education was for 1.5 school years (90 sessions, 30 min per session, twice per week), following the programme 'The Road to Mathematics'. During this period, the children receiving remedial education did not attend the regular maths lessons in the classroom, which were offered for at least 1 h per week. Effects were assessed for early numeracy and mathematical skills (operationalized as basic calculation fluency) in kindergarten and first grade.
OUTCOMES & RESULTS: Three analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs) revealed that, when accounting for achievement at pre-test, children with a language deficiency who received remedial numeracy education performed better on early numeracy skills in kindergarten and first grade than kindergartners with a language deficiency that followed the regular curriculum. Furthermore, they were able to catch up with their language proficient peers in early numeracy. However, children with a language deficiency who received remedial numeracy education did not differ from children who followed the regular curriculum on mathematical skills, suggesting that benefits for numeracy did not generalize to more advanced skills of addition and subtraction.
CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: Since, in general, it can be concluded that early numeracy education is indeed effective for kindergartners with a language deficiency, this study finds evidence that intensive support is desirable for children with delayed or impaired language development.
支持有风险的幼儿园儿童早期算术能力的可能性已受到越来越多的关注。此外，人们认为语言能力是早期数学技能的重要前提。
研究幼儿园阶段的补救性早期算术教育，这种教育总体上已被证明是有效的，对有语言缺陷的儿童是否也有益。
经过严格筛选，纳入了四种不同情况：两组接受补救教育，一组是语言能力良好的儿童（N = 86），另一组是有语言缺陷的儿童（N = 26）；两组遵循常规课程，一组是语言能力良好的儿童（N = 51），另一组是有语言缺陷的儿童（N = 24）。补救教育为期1.5学年（90节课，每节30分钟，每周两次），遵循“数学之路”课程。在此期间，接受补救教育的儿童不参加每周至少1小时的常规课堂数学课。对幼儿园和一年级儿童的早期算术和数学技能（以基本计算流畅性为操作指标）进行了效果评估。
三项协方差分析（ANCOVA）表明，在考虑预测试成绩时，接受补救性算术教育的有语言缺陷的儿童在幼儿园和一年级的早期算术技能方面比遵循常规课程的有语言缺陷的儿童表现更好。此外，他们在早期算术方面能够赶上语言能力良好的同龄人。然而，接受补救性算术教育的有语言缺陷的儿童在数学技能方面与遵循常规课程的儿童没有差异，这表明算术方面的益处并未推广到加减法等更高级的技能。
总体而言，可以得出结论，早期算术教育对有语言缺陷的幼儿园儿童确实有效，本研究发现有证据表明，对于语言发展延迟或受损的儿童，需要给予强化支持。
