Arithmetic Operations and Attention in Children with Intellectual Disabilities

This paper is aimed at depicting the quality of functions of some of the aspects of attention in children with mild intellectual disabilities and their influence on the mastering of arithmetic operations, including addition and subtraction. The sample used in this study encompasses 60 pupils, both males and females. The criteria used in the selection of examinees included the IQ level of the students which ranged from 50 – 69, calendar age from 12 to 14 years, school age which involved the inclusion of pupils attending grades five to seven of primary school in Serbia. To evaluate the quality of attention in our study we used the Trail Making Test form A and the Double Letter Cancellation Test, whilst a Criterion-referenced test was used to evaluate how well the specified body of knowledge, in this case arithmetic operations i.e. addition and subtraction were learned by the pupils. The implications of the study pertain to the proposal of implementing specific, creative activities and exercise during play, concrete contents, demonstration, experiments and teaching resources susceptible for teaching arithmetic. The unsatisfactory results achieved by pupils during the assessment of their knowledge of mathematics at all levels of education, demonstrate a need for continuous examination of parameters that can influence the process of its comprehension (OECD, 2006). Throughout the world, at the beginner level of mathematical education at school age, children most often begin with learning addition and subtraction and continue with this concept to the end of primary school, building on their knowledge (Canobi, 2004). Addition and subtraction represent the building blocks of the majority of future mathematical notions and for this reason it is important for a child to understand their basic concepts (Robinson & Dube, 2009). Addition, as an arithmetic operation, should be understood by a child as the process of accumulation of certain elements, while the arithmetic operation subtraction is presented to the child as the separation of elements (Gilmore & Spelke, 2008; Nunes, Bryant, Hallett, Bell, & Evans, 2009). Children with mild intellectual disabilities (MID) have difficulties in utilizing arithmetic operations, involving addition and subtraction, even once they comprehend their fundamental concepts. For example, because of difficulties in the generalization process, these children cannot apply the learnt arithmetic knowledge if the question is set up differently from the conditions given in those questions that were practiced (Butler, Miller, Lee, &