Effectiveness of the Additional Early Mathematics program for teaching children early mathematics

This paper presents the results of a study of the development of early mathematical competence among young poor arithmetic achievers in the 4–7 year age group. Research has shown that arithmetic difficulties later in life can be explained by an insufficient development of early mathematical competence: i.e. different aspects of early mathematical competence. The different aspects of early mathematical competence are derived from cognitive psychology and from a didactical point of view with an emphasis on (the various phases of) counting. The Piagetian operations (seriation, correspondence and classification) are used, however, as much as possible embedded in a counting context.