This study investigated if deaf children born to deaf parents are at an advantage to learning number concepts in comparison to deaf children born to hearing parents. We compared the response to intervention of two six-year old children: a native-signing boy and a late-signing girl. They participated in an intervention designed to improve their understanding of additive composition and the use of economic counting strategies in problem solving. Both children achieved similar levels in the use of economic counting strategies and understanding of additive composition, as well as similar increase in their counting range. The similarities in learning by the native-signing and the late-signing children suggest that both groups may benefit from the same sort of teaching.
Deaf children; Counting; Additive composition; Counting strategies and procedures
