A Comprehensive Investigation of Eight Components of Visual-Spatial Ability in Children with Mathematics Learning Disorder

Mathematics Learning Disorder (MLD) is a neurodevelopmental condition. MLD refers to conditions where children with basically healthy Intelligence Quotient (IQ) lag behind children of the same age or grade in mathematics, due to some deficits in mathematics learning ability. MLD is associated with deficits in cognitive functions. Brain imaging studies confirmed that similar areas are activated when individuals process spatial and number tasks. It has been revealed that the parietal lobe plays an essential role in the processing of spatial information. The Visual-Spatial Ability (VSA) is an umbrella term that refers to the skill in representing, transforming, generating, and recalling symbolic and nonlinguistic data. Evidence for the role of visual–spatial processing in MLD remains contradictory. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore differences in SA factors in children with and without MLD.

In total, 128 children aged 9–12 years have participated as two Typically Developing (TD) and MLD groups in this cross–sectional study, in 2018. Moreover, 64 children in the MLD group were selected by purposive sampling method from learning disorder centers in Tehran City, Iran. The TD group comprised 64 children who were selected by a multi–stage sampling approach from two elementary schools. The inclusion criteria for the MLD group were obtaining IQ scores of >85 in the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children–Fourth Edition (WISC–IV, 2003), and achieving a score of <80 in the Key–Mat (Cannolly et al., 1988). In the TD group, the Colorado Learning Disability Questionnaire (Wilcott et al., 2011) was used to ensure the absence of learning disabilities. The inclusion criterion for the TD group was receiving a score of <40 in the aforementioned questionnaire. The study participants were excluded from both groups in case of experiencing bioneurological disabilities. VSA was measured with a computerized tasks battery of spatial ability (solouki et al., 2020). This battery included 8 factors of VSA, including the Flexibility of Closure (FC), Closure Speed (CS), Perceptual Speed (PS), Visualization (VIS), Spatial Relations (SR), Spatial Orientation (SO), Spatial-Temporal (ST) ability, and Way Finding (WF). Subjects in both research groups were individually assessed concerning the 8 components of SA by the aforementioned battery. All 8 spatial ability tasks were presented to each subject on 15–inch computers, using E–Prime 2 and Unity software. The study subject was placed 60 cm away from the screen. The battery of spatial ability tasks was performed in two 45–minute sessions. The obtained data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, such as mean and standard deviation as well as inferential statistics using the Mann–Whitney U test in SPSS at a significance level of 0.05.

The collected data suggested that the MLD group, compared to the TD group obtained a lower accuracy score in the tasks of FC (p<0.001), CS (p<0.001), PS (p<0.001), VIS (p<0.001), SR (p<0.001), SO (p<0.001), ST (p<0.001), and in the memory of landmark phase of WF task (p=0.002). Furthermore, the number of trials in the learning path (p<0.001) and walked path in the short distance phase of the WF task was higher in the MLD group, compared to the controls (p=0.003). The current research results also revealed that the two groups were significantly different in the mean score of reaction time in VIS (p<0.001), SR (p<0.001), and SO tasks (p<0.001).

The present study results demonstrated that children with MLD have defects in all 8 components of VSA.