Effectiveness of a process-based executive function intervention on arithmetic knowledge of children with Developmental Dyscalculia.
Brief EF games baked into math practice raise fact fluency in kids with dyscalculia and the gain sticks.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team worked with 8- to 10-year-olds who have developmental dyscalculia.
Kids got a short process-based executive-function program that mixed EF games with arithmetic facts.
A control group did regular math worksheets.
Both groups were tested right after and again three months later.
What they found
The EF group remembered more math facts and solved procedures faster than the control group.
Gains stayed strong three months later.
Conceptual understanding did not change in either group.
How this fits with other research
Stricker et al. (2024) saw the same pattern in general-education kids.
They used SMART, an online relational-skills trainer, and also got big math jumps.
The two studies back each other up even though one used EF drills and the other used relational frames.
Tsai (2009) tested table-tennis for kids with DCD and also improved inhibitory control.
All three show brief, game-like training can sharpen thinking skills that schoolwork demands.
Why it matters
You can add quick EF games to math lessons right now.
Pick tasks that ask kids to hold, shift, and update numbers while they practice facts.
Track fluency each week to be sure the boost lasts.
If it works for dyscalculia, try it for any learner who stalls on basic arithmetic.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Arithmetic knowledge has long been known as an essential factor for educational and vocational success. AIMS: This study aims to explore the effectiveness of a process-based Executive Function (EF) intervention program on the improvement of components of arithmetic. METHODS AND PROCEDURE: A goal-directed sampling method was applied in this study. Participants were assigned into active control and experimental groups. Semi-experimental design with pre-test, post-test and follow-up was utilized in this research. Participants were included in this study based on their WISC-IV and Key-Math test performance. 30 male students aged 8-10 years with a formal diagnosis of Developmental Dyscalculia (DD), selected from a learning disability center in Ahvaz, Iran, participated in the study. The pre-test took 1 month, the intervention including 17 sessions, took two months and the post-test took 1 month. All the students' arithmetic knowledge were tested in pre-test, post-test, and 3 months after post-test to test the longevity of the intervention effects. Repeated measure Univariate Analysis of Variance was conducted in this study. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: The results indicate that the students who attended the intervention, outperformed control group in the components of factual and procedural arithmetic in post-test and follow-up, however; the performance of two groups in conceptual knowledge was not different. This study contributes to the emerging evidence that EF intervention may improve factual and procedural arithmetic knowledge in children with DD. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Process-based EF interventions can improve arithmetic knowledge of students with DD, which can contribute to the literature of this area WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS?: The current research helps cognitive science to present a more meticulous theoretical and conceptual pattern for EF components and math, using process-based EF intervention programs with arithmetic content. Furthermore, this research allows for specification of cognitive fundamentals of arithmetic development and understanding the mechanisms underlying the transfer effect of EF intervention to math. The findings of this research can contribute to evidence-based EF intervention studies and help educational psychologists in preparation of appropriate curricula based on the fundamental components of arithmetic development in preschool and primary school.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2022 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2022.104260