title: Symbolic Numerical Magnitude Processing Is as Important to Arithmetic as Phonological Awareness Is to Reading.
abstract: In this article, we tested, using a 1-year longitudinal design, whether symbolic numerical magnitude processing or children's numerical representation of Arabic digits, is as important to arithmetic as phonological awareness is to reading. Children completed measures of symbolic comparison, phonological awareness, arithmetic, reading at the start of third grade and the latter two were retested at the start of fourth grade. Cross-sectional and longitudinal correlations indicated that symbolic comparison was a powerful domain-specific predictor of arithmetic and that phonological awareness was a unique predictor of reading. Crucially, the strength of these independent associations was not significantly different. This indicates that symbolic numerical magnitude processing is as important to arithmetic development as phonological awareness is to reading and suggests that symbolic numerical magnitude processing is a good candidate for screening children at risk for developing mathematical difficulties.
authors.affiliation: Parenting and Special Education Research Unit, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Kiran
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vanbinst
authors.affiliation: Numerical Cognition Laboratory, Department of Psychology & Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London (ON), Canada.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ansari
authors.affiliation: Parenting and Special Education Research Unit, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Pol
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ghesquière
authors.affiliation: Parenting and Special Education Research Unit, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Bert
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: De Smedt
mesh_terms: D001364:Awareness; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D010700:Phonetics; D011932:Reading; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013223:Statistics as Topic