Peer-reviewed article
Early exposure to language supports number concept development: Insights from deaf children acquiring signed and spoken language.
Coppola M, Walker K, Carrigan E, Shusterman A ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how language exposure affects number concept development in deaf and hard-of-hearing children compared with hearing children. Researchers tested 178 children aged 3-7 years who were learning American Sign Language and/or spoken English. The findings show that early access to language—whether signed or spoken—is critical for developing number knowledge and mathematics skills, and that language modality (signed versus spoken) matters less than timing of access.
Key points
- Age of access to language significantly predicted children's understanding of the cardinal principle (that the last number counted represents the total quantity)
- Both American Sign Language and spoken English equally support number concept development
- Language modality and socioeconomic status did not predict differences in mathematics performance; timing of language access did
- Early language exposure was the strongest predictor of accuracy in generating large sets of objects
- Deaf and hard-of-hearing children's mathematics outcomes depend critically on early access to any accessible language
Limitations
The study is cross-sectional and cannot establish causal mechanisms. It does not describe the specific instructional or home language practices that might mediate the relationship between language access and numeracy development.
Abstract
Children's numeracy skills at school entry predict future educational attainment. Deaf and hard-of-hearing students are reported to underperform compared with typically hearing peers in mathematics. This study examined the impact of language experience on cardinal principle (CP) knowledge and accuracy in generating large sets in 58 hearing and 120 deaf and hard-of-hearing children ages 3.1-7.6 years who were learning spoken English and/or American Sign Language (ASL). The 178 children represented diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds; 77 were assigned male at birth. Logistic regression models showed that chronological age and age of access to language significantly predicted CP knowledge; however, age of language access was no longer significant after including highest count as a predictor. Logistic regressions further revealed that age and the timing of children's access to language (early/later)-but not language modality or socioeconomic status-significantly predicted accuracy in generating large sets. After including the age at which children began receiving greater access to language, both highest count and language access, along with age, significantly predicted performance. These findings show that both ASL and spoken English support number knowledge development and CP acquisition and that early exposure to accessible language is critical to promoting equity in mathematics outcomes.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Early exposure to accessible language (American Sign Language and/or spoken English)
- Population
- 58 hearing children and 120 deaf and hard-of-hearing children ages 3.1 to 7.6 years from diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds
Key finding
Age of language access significantly predicted cardinal principle knowledge
M et al. · Europe PMC · 1 Sept 2026