Automatization of Counting Procedures in Children With Dyscalculia

NCT ID: NCT03354481

Last Updated: 2025-09-12

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 3 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2018-07-12
• Study Completion Date: 2019-09-19

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.

Conditions

Dyscalculia

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: OTHER
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Behavioral recording of arithmetic and associated information

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.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Arithmetic facts solving

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

The experiment will contain several tasks. The main one will be a computerized task on arithmetic facts where participants will have to solve simple additions. There will also be three additional tasks: a processing speed task where the participant will have to tell the orientation of an arrow as fast as possible, a visuo-spatial task where the participant will have to reproduce a tapping block sequence and an arithmetic task where the participant will try to solve a maximum of operations in a limited time.

Interventions

Arithmetic facts solving

The experiment will contain several tasks. The main one will be a computerized task on arithmetic facts where participants will have to solve simple additions. There will also be three additional tasks: a processing speed task where the participant will have to tell the orientation of an arrow as fast as possible, a visuo-spatial task where the participant will have to reproduce a tapping block sequence and an arithmetic task where the participant will try to solve a maximum of operations in a limited time.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

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

Exclusion Criteria

• Presenting a global intellectual deficit

• Minimum Eligible Age: 8 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 11 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

University of Lausanne

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Hospices Civils de Lyon

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Locations

Hopital Femme Mère Enfant

Bron, , France

Countries

France

References

Jeanne Bagnoud, Romain Mathieu, Jasinta Dewi, Sandrine Masson, Sibylle Gonzalez-Monge, Zumrut Kasikci and Catherine Thevenot. An investigation of the possible causes of arithmetic difficulties in children with dyscalculia. L'Année psychologique 2021/3 Vol.121

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

Other Identifiers

2017-A03134-49

Identifier Type: OTHER

Identifier Source: secondary_id

69HCL17_0651

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id