Abstract：
There is convincing evidence that training spatial abilities leads to improved mathematics performance in typically developing (TD) children. However, a lack of information on mathematical development and spatial-mathematical associations in people with Down syndrome (DS) hinders the translation of these interventions. Here, we established developmental trajectories of mathematics and explored whether spatial ability predicts attainment on different mathematics measures in individuals with DS. Participants with DS (n = 36; ages 9-35 years) and TD children (n = 132; ages 4-11 years) completed three groups of tasks: spatial tasks assessing different subdomains of spatial thinking; mathematics tasks assessing early mathematics skills, mathematical reasoning, arithmetic, and geometry; and IQ tasks. The developmental trajectories of mathematics performance against mental age revealed similar starting points of the trajectories and similar rates of development for DS and TD groups. Furthermore, after controlling for verbal skills, spatial skills explained 5.8% to 18.1% of the variation in mathematical performance across different mathematics tasks, and the pattern of spatial-mathematical relations was similar for DS and mental age-matched TD groups. This shows that mathematical development in DS groups appears to mirror that in TD children, indicative of delay only. Strong spatial-mathematical relations were observed for individuals with DS, like those seen for TD participants. This is the vital preliminary knowledge needed to support the design and use of spatial intervention for improving mathematics in individuals with DS.
摘要：
有令人信服的证据表明，训练空间能力可以改善典型发育（TD）儿童的数学表现。然而,唐氏综合症(DS)患者缺乏有关数学发展和空间数学关联的信息,阻碍了这些干预措施的转化.这里,我们建立了数学的发展轨迹，并探讨了空间能力是否可以预测DS个体在不同数学指标上的成就。DS（n=36;9-35岁）和TD儿童（n=132;4-11岁）的参与者完成了三组任务：空间任务评估空间思维的不同子领域；数学任务评估早期数学技能，数学推理,算术，和几何；和智商任务。数学表现相对于心理年龄的发展轨迹揭示了DS和TD组相似的轨迹起点和相似的发展速度。此外，在控制了口头技能之后，空间技能解释了不同数学任务之间数学性能变化的5.8%到18.1%，DS和智力年龄匹配的TD组的空间数学关系模式相似。这表明DS组的数学发展似乎反映了TD儿童的数学发展，仅表示延迟。观察到具有DS的个体具有很强的空间数学关系，就像TD参与者看到的那样。这是支持设计和使用空间干预以改善DS个体数学所需的重要初步知识。
