Delayed development of basic numerical skills in children with developmental dyscalculia

Research suggests that children with developmental dyscalculia (DD) have deficits in basic numerical skills. However, there is conflicting evidence on whether basic numerical skills in children with DD are qualitatively different from those in typically developing children (TD) or whether basic numerical skills development in children with DD is simply delayed. In addition, there are also competing hypotheses about deficits in basic numerical skills, assuming (1) a general deficit in representing numerosities (Approximate Number System, ANS), (2) specific deficits in an object-based attentional system (Object Tracking System, OTS), or (3) deficits in accessing numerosities from symbols (Access Deficit, AD). Hence, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether deficits in basic numerical skills in children with DD are more indicative of a developmental delay or a dyscalculia-specific qualitative deviation and whether these deficits result from (selective) impairment of core cognitive systems involved in numerical processing. To address this, we tested 480 children (68 DD and 412 TD) in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades with different paradigms for basic numerical skills (subitizing, counting, magnitude comparison tasks, number sets, and number line estimation tasks). The results revealed that DD children's impairments did not indicate qualitatively different basic numerical skills but instead pointed to a specific developmental delay, with the exception of dot enumeration. This result was corroborated when comparing mathematical profiles of DD children in 4th grade and TD children in 2nd grade, suggesting that DD children were developmentally delayed and not qualitatively different. In addition, specific deficits in core markers of numeracy in children with DD supported the ANS deficit rather than the AD and OTS deficit hypothesis.