Research Article | Open Access
A Review of Early Numeracy Interventions for Children at Risk in Mathematics
Riikka Mononen Pirjo Aunio Tuire Koponen 3 Mikko Aro
Pages: 25-34
Abstract
This study reviewed early numeracy interventions for four- to seven-year-old children at risk for
mathematics difficulties. The search yielded 19 peer-reviewed studies with pre- and post-treatment
control designs. The interventions were categorised as either core or supplemental instruction. The
study analysed the effectiveness and identified the pedagogical components of the interventions:
setting, duration, numeracy content used for intervention training and progress measurement,
conductor and professional developmental support offered, and instructional design features. The
interventions showed, to various degrees, the promising effect of improving the early numeracy skills
of at-risk children. Results indicated that different types of instructional design features, including
explicit instruction, computer-assisted instruction (CAI), game playing, or the use of concreterepresentational-abstract levels in representations of math concepts, led to improvements in
mathematics performance. The paper discusses the implications for practise and suggestions for
future research.
Keywords
At-risk children, early numeracy, intervention, mathematics, review