The Language of Math
How to Support Math Learning in DLD?
There are two main areas that SLPs can target in intervention to support math achievement in children with DLD (Gillam, Holbrook, & Westenskow, 2016):
Explicit and intensive instruction on math-specific vocabulary.
Instruction on the complex syntactical structures often found in math problems.
See the tabs on Vocabulary Instruction and Syntax Instruction for additional information and resources.
The Language of Math
Math discourse is a form of informational discourse (Gillam, Holbrook, & Westenskow, 2016) containing specialized vocabulary, and linguistic and nonlinguistic structures that distinguish it from other forms of discourse (Ravid, Dromi, & Kotler, 2013).
Math discourse contains vocabulary and syntactic features that may pose challenges for students with language difficulties (Silliman & Wilkinson, 2015). Features of the "language of math" that can create difficulties for children with DLD include:
Highly technical & precise vocabulary related to math concepts (e.g. "trigonometry", or "addend").
Change in word meanings when used in math-specific contexts compared to general language contexts (e.g. “rate” could mean “a fixed price paid for something” when used in a general language context, but when used in a math-specific context, it means a “ratio of two measurements with different units”).
Long, complex noun phrases (e.g. “the negative square root of the dividend”).
Complex syntactic structures like relative clauses and passive constructions.
Nominalization (verbs or adjectives being used as nouns) (e.g. using the noun “sum” as a verb when providing instructions to “sum the two numbers”)
Why is Math Learning Difficult with DLD?
Children with DLD may have math difficulties for various reasons. There is evidence that suggests the following processes may play a role in math difficulties for children with DLD (Alt, Arizmendi, & Beal, 2014):
Math can be language intensive. Children with DLD have difficulties with mathematical tasks that tax language processing (Alt, Arizmendi, & Beal, 2014). This includes difficulties with tasks that require verbal counting and naming skills (retrieving names and facts associated with specific numbers) (Arvedson, 2002).
Math heavily relies on the use of symbols. Children with DLD have difficulty with various aspects of language, which is a system of symbols. This language difficulty may reflect a more general difficulty with symbols (Alt, Arizmendi, & Beal, 2014). Some research suggests that children who have difficulty learning symbols (i.e. children with DLD), have difficulty with nonverbal mathematical tasks involving symbols (Koponen et al., 2006).
Working memory is important for math performance. Visuospatial working memory is used by children while solving mental calculations (Kyttälä, Aunio, and Hautamäki (2010). Visuospatial working memory is also important in understanding the concept of place value (Donlan et al., 2007). There is some evidence to suggest that children with DLD have difficulties with some aspects of working memory for mathematical patterns, which can impair math performance (Alt, Arizmendi, & Beal, 2014).
DLD and Math
Children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) have impairments in encoding, storing, recalling, organizing, and producing language (Reimann, Gut, Frischknect, & Gob, 2013).
This impairment with language processing puts children with DLD at risk of academic difficulties (Morgan, Farkas, & Wu, 2011).
One particular area of difficulty is in math learning. Research has shown that children with DLD are at risk for difficulties in learning mathematical skills (Shaftel, BeltonKocher, Glasnapp, & Poggio, 2006).
