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International Handbook of Mathematical Learning Difficulties pp 521–542Cite as

Counting and Basic Numerical Skills

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Abstract

The following chapter outlines a typical developmental trajectory of children’s early number knowledge and counting skills. Using a series of anecdotal demonstrations of a young child’s emergent knowledge as a guide, the chapter first outlines the conceptual and procedural building blocks for counting and basic numerical skills, proceeds to an extended discussion of major conceptual achievements in counting, and concludes with a review of our emerging understanding on how to best support and facilitate the development of these skills. Throughout each of these sections, seminal studies are discussed to more clearly demonstrate the role of children’s intuitive number sense in the construction of natural-number concepts, specific challenges that children confront as they acquire the verbal count list (including several conceptual and linguistic obstacles that are often overlooked in early childhood curricula and assessments), and the effectiveness of low-cost, practical interventions that can be adopted by educators and parents to support and facilitate development.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The term “subitize” also enjoys many definitions across early childhood curricula and assessment. The present chapter, however, will adopt and adhere to the definition provided above.

  2. 2.

    Note that approximate quantifiers such as “more” and “a lot” can take a wide range of referents, with few constraints, while number words refer only to collections of discrete individuals.

  3. 3.

    Children in the other conditions received either a set of ethnically diverse dolls, dress-up clothes, or wooden blocks.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Child & Adolescent Development, San José State University, San Jose, CA, USA

    Emily Slusser

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  1. Emily Slusser
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Correspondence to Emily Slusser .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany

    Annemarie Fritz

  2. Faculty of Education, Centre for Education Practice Research, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Annemarie Fritz

  3. Departamento de Psicologia, Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    Vitor Geraldi Haase

  4. Niilo Mäki Institute, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Pekka Räsänen

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Slusser, E. (2019). Counting and Basic Numerical Skills. In: Fritz, A., Haase, V.G., Räsänen, P. (eds) International Handbook of Mathematical Learning Difficulties. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97148-3_31

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97148-3_31

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