Does Knowing How To Count Mean Recognizing Numbers?
If you are a mother of a certain age, it may be that you still remember how you learned to count in the past. Do you remember when we memorized the multiplication tables and recited them one after another with great ease? Now, did this mean that we were able to recognize numbers?
Obviously not. There could be cases of children who knew how to recite the multiplication tables by finger, as was popularly said at the time, and then not be able to do a simple subtraction or addition well.
To do the test, we can test with young children. If we teach them to count from 1 to 10 as if it were a song, they will learn it by heart without too much trouble. Now, if we want them to recognize those numbers that they have recited before, we will see that they are not able to identify them.
Thus, children can learn to count by heart without major difficulties, as they have excellent memory skills. But the basis of mathematics does not lie there. It is also necessary that they recognize what they do, what they work with and why those accounts they make are like this and not otherwise.
Knowing how to count and recognizing numbers
Each child has his own rhythm. Some learn letters faster, others mathematics or history … Knowing how to count sooner or later will also depend on the ability and interests of the little ones.
Observing is our job as a key part in the development of the child, whether we are their mothers, fathers, guardians, teachers or teachers or their attachment figures.
But what is there to observe? We will have to get to know the child, find out what he likes the most and what he likes the least, what subjects arouse his curiosity and, above all, if he shows any kind of developmental problem.
Indeed, in the present case, that a child knows how to count does not imply that he can recognize numbers. Sometimes it is normal because it is too early. Others do not, since we could be talking about some kind of disorder.
Why can’t a child who can count recognize numbers?
In addition to the disorder, many times mothers and fathers, or even grandparents, grandmothers and other relatives, teach children early that they have a great capacity for memorization.
So someone can teach the children some songs, for example, that are used to learn numbers. Or they make them memorize them as if they were reciting them or something similar.
It is a very common situation that does not really imply that the little one can really count. What the child does is say a series of numbers orally, but without the theoretical orientation necessary to finish understanding what he is saying.
In other cases they are also capable of reciting numbers and even counting objects if we teach them. However, that does not mean that later, when they see them written in a book, for example, they can recognize them. If the numerical correspondence is not established, they will not know how to identify them, even if they are able to count by logic or by learning.
Dyscalculia
On the other hand, it is also possible that the inability to understand children’s numbers is due to some type of disorder. In this case, the problem is called dyscalculia.
Dyscalculia is a learning disorder that affects the brain, as it is unable to process certain information, such as understanding mathematical concepts. That is, the child is capable of counting, but then, when faced with a simple mathematical operation, it is difficult for him to do it and he does not understand anything.
Disorders such as dyscalculia, like others such as dyslexia, for example, affect the child’s brain, which cannot process information adequately to understand certain concepts, which is a significant obstacle for the individual who is affected by it.
The child or adult is not able to identify the digits adequately, so they cannot integrate the numerical symbols with the quantity they represent.
We hope that the concept to be expressed beyond mere disorder has been crystal clear. Answering the question that heads the title of the article, it seems obvious that knowing how to count does not imply recognizing numbers for various reasons. However, they are not situations that cannot be solved.
