Arithmetic Skills in Elementary School Students and their Association with Number Sense, Working Memory, and Reading Difficulties

Abstract

At school, the mathematical literacy initiated by the development of arithmetic skills in the four operations, and reading and writing skills, plays a fundamental role in children’s cognitive development and their socializing. The literature points to phonological and visuospatial working memory, number sense, and linguistic skills as some of the cognitive aspects that mediate arithmetic skills. The present study aimed to (1) characterize the performance in solving arithmetic operations and investigate whether this arithmetic performance is different between children with and without reading difficulties; (2) investigate whether the way of registering the resolution (written or mental) is associated with correct answers in this arithmetic operations; and finally, (3) verifying the association of this arithmetic performance with tests that assess number sense and phonological and visuospatial working memory. Participants were 131 students of elementary school with and without reading difficulties. The results indicate that these children have a deficit in arithmetic performance compared to what is expected by the curriculum of their respective school grades. This study also showed that both the performance in arithmetic and the number sense and working memory are lower in the group with reading difficulty. The way of registering the resolution was related to the correct answers only for the addition with 2 digits. Finally, it was found an association between the evaluated cognitive functions and the arithmetic performance, this association varied according to the different school grades.

Arithmetic; Working memory; Reading; Elementary School; Number sense