Automatization of Counting Procedures in Children With Dyscalculia

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Dyscalculia
• Interventions: Behavioral: Arithmetic facts solving

• Registration Number: NCT03354481
• Lead Sponsor: Hospices Civils de Lyon

Brief Summary

Researchers in numerical cognition usually think that the greatest and most common difficulty in children suffering from dyscalculia is retrieval of arithmetic facts from long-term memory. However, we have recently shown that retrieval might not be the optimum strategy in mental arithmetic. In fact, expert adults would rather solve simple problems such as 3 + 2 by automated and unconscious procedures. Therefore, we hypothesize that children with dyscalculia might not present deficit in retrieval but, instead, in counting procedure automatization. The aim of the current project is to test this challenging position. Through a longitudinal approach, we plan to precisely examine the behavior of children suffering from dyscalculia over a 3-year period. Children will be aged between 8 to 11 years at the beginning of the study and we will precisely observe the evolution of their solution times when they solve simple addition problems involving one-digit numbers. If children with dyscalculia still struggle with simple additions three years, their solution times plotted on the sum of the problems should still follow an exponential function. Indeed, if counting is not automated, difficulties necessarily increase with the progression on the number line or the verbal sequence, hence the exponential function. On the contrary, if counting procedures tend towards automatization, moves along a number line will progressively become as easy at the beginning of the line as at the end, hence the linear function. Importantly, a retrieval model would predict exactly the inverse pattern because, according to this model, the linear function, which is unanimously considered as the hallmark of counting procedures, should progressively be replaced by a non-linear function through practice.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2017-11-20
• Study First Submitted QC: 2017-11-27
• Study First Posted: 2017-11-28
• Study Start: 2018-07-12
• Primary Completion: 2019-09-19
• Study Completion: 2019-09-19
• Status Verified: 2020-07
• Last Update Submitted: 2020-07-03
• Last Update Posted: 2020-07-07

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 3

Inclusion Criteria

• Age between 8 and 11 years old
• Having a dyscalculia as described in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) V

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Exclusion Criteria

• Presenting a global intellectual deficit

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Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: SINGLE_GROUP

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Behavioral recording of arithmetic and associated information	Arithmetic facts solving	The experiment will contain several behavioral tasks in which solving time and correct answer will be recorded. The main one will be a computerized task on arithmetic facts. There will also be three additional tasks as described below.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Response times to solve an informatics task on simple arithmetic facts resolution	24 months	Time between the apparition of the stimuli and the answer. The task contain only addition

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Result of the Corsi block tapping test	0 month
Percentage of correct responses to solve the informatics task on simple arithmetic facts resolution	0+ 12 + 24 months
Result of the digit span memory task	0 month
Processing speed in an informatics task on arrow orientation	0 month
Result of the Tempo Test Rekenen	0 month	The Tempo Test Rekenen is used to evaluate arithmetical ability. It consists in solving several operations in a limited time.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Hopital Femme Mère Enfant; 🇫🇷 Bron, France