Learning Difficulties, Special Needs, and Mathematics Learning

Introduction

“Learning difficulties” and “special educational needs” are terms that have been connected with different groups of children. Three of these groups are considered here initially, but the focus of this entry is on the third one.

First, some children find learning many things more difficult than other children, and this includes learning mathematics. These children are assumed to have an intellectual disability due to genetic causes. Children with Down Syndrome (DS) or with Williams Syndrome (WS) exemplify the finding that genetically based intellectual disability also results in difficulty in learning mathematics. But there is a long way between genes and phenotypes in educational achievement and one must be cautious about generalizations. Research shows very wide variation in the measured intelligence of children and adults with DS (estimates of their intellectual quotient [IQ] vary between about 30 and 70; average IQ in the nonaffected population is 100) as well as those...