Exploring relative strengths in people with Down syndrome: Spatial thinking and its role in mathematics

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.