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Improving the Numerical Knowledge of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Benefits of Linear Board Games
Author(s) -
Satsangi Rajiv,
Bofferding Laura
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of research in special educational needs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.543
H-Index - 27
ISSN - 1471-3802
DOI - 10.1111/1471-3802.12380
Subject(s) - autism spectrum disorder , task (project management) , autism , psychology , numerical cognition , number line , spectrum (functional analysis) , developmental psychology , mathematics education , cognition , engineering , psychiatry , physics , systems engineering , quantum mechanics
A lack of numerical knowledge early on can impede a child's academic development. In past research, playing linear board games improved children's understanding of numerical relations, which the authors theorised could extend to children with autism spectrum disorder. For this pilot study, 10 children played a board game where they moved tokens across coloured tiles displaying the numbers 1–10. During gameplay, students in the experimental group focused on the numbers on the tiles, while the control group focused on the colours. The assessment consisted of a number line estimation task, where students placed numbers ranging from 1 to 9 on a blank number line. Results showed children in the experimental group experienced statistically significant improvement in their understanding of numerical relationships of numbers on the number line estimation task. Findings indicate extended experiences with linear board games can support the numerical development of children with autism spectrum disorder.