The effectiveness of Korean number naming on insight into numbers in Dutch students with mild intellectual disabilities.
Korean number naming gives students with mild ID a clear ten-structure that boosts early number sense up to 20.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Dutch students with mild intellectual disability learned to name numbers the Korean way. The Korean system says 'ten-three' for 13, so the place-value pattern is obvious.
Teachers gave lessons for several weeks. Before and after scores showed whether kids understood numbers better.
What they found
Number insight improved for 1-20. Kids saw the ten-structure and counted more accurately.
Gains stopped at 20. Larger numbers like 34 or 57 still felt confusing.
How this fits with other research
Mononen et al. (2014) also used direct instruction with language-impaired kindergarteners. Seven months of RightStart closed counting gaps, matching the early boost seen here.
Heinicke et al. (2012) got 100% accuracy on 0-9 with taped numbers in neurotypical kids. Their quick, low-prep method lines up with the Korean naming idea: make the pattern clear.
Kleemans et al. (2011) found that language skill predicts early math gaps. That supports using a language-friendly system like Korean naming for kids with mild ID.
Why it matters
You can borrow the Korean ten-structure today. Teach 'ten-two' for 12, 'ten-six' for 16. Kids see the pattern and stop guessing. Stop at 20, then bridge to larger numbers with extra cues.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Model Korean names aloud: say 'ten-three' for 13 and have the child echo; use blocks to show the ten and the three.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Children from Asian countries score higher on early years' arithmetic tests than children from Europe or the United States of America. An explanation for these differences may be the way numbers are named. A clear ten-structure like in the Korean language method leads to a better insight into numbers and arithmetic skills. This assumption forms the basis of the current study. Examined is whether an intervention with number naming in the Korean way influences number awareness of students with mild intellectual disabilities (N=70; mean age: 9.0 years). The results indicate a positive effect of this alternative method of number naming on the insight into numbers up to 20. However, the effect did not generalize to insight into numbers 21-100. The Korean method of number naming seems to be a promising way to teach students with mild intellectual disabilities insight into numbers.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2011 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2011.03.014