Synonyms
Mathematics disability
Definition
Acalculia is an acquired impairment in which people have difficulty performing mathematical tasks, such as adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. Acalculia deficits can manifest in a wide variety of number processing and calculation abilities.
Categorization
Generally, authors have agreed on two major distinctions: primary and secondary acalculia (Growth-Marnat 2000). These terms were first described by Berger in 1926 (Boller and Grafman 1983). Primary acalculia refers to a basic defect in computational abilities, not resulting from separate cognitive deficits. It is also known as anarithmetia. Deficits in primary acalculia include poor estimation, number comparison difficulties, and difficulty understanding procedural rules and numerical signs. In primary acalculia, these deficits will exist regardless of whether tasks are presented in an oral or written format (Ardila and Rosselli 2002).
Secondary acalculia refers to calculation...
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References and Readings
Ardila, A., Matute, E., & Inozemtseva, O. (2003). Progressive agraphia, acalculia, and anomia: A single-case report. Applied Neuropsychology, 10, 205–214.
Ardila, A., & Rosselli, M. (2002). Acalculia and dyscalculia. Neuropsychology Review, 12, 179–231.
Basso, A., Burgio, F., & Caporali, A. (2000). Acalculia, aphasia, and spatial disorders in left and right brain-damaged patient. Cortex, 36, 265–280.
Berger, H. (1926). Uber Rechenstorunger bei Herderkraunkunger des Grosshirns. Arch Psychiatr Nervenkr, 78, 236–263.
Boller, F., & Grafman, J. (1983). Acalculia: Historical development and current significance. Brain and Cognition, 2(3), 205–223.
Dehaene, S., Cohen, L., & Changeux, J. P. (1998). Neuronal network models of acalculia and prefrontal deficits. In R. W. Parks, D. S. Levine, & D. L. Long (Eds.), Fundamentals of neural network modeling: Neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience (pp. 233–255). Cambridge, MA: MIT.
Grafman, J., & Rickart, T. (2000). Acalculia. In M. J. Farah & T. E. Fienberg (Eds.), Patient based approaches to cognitive neurosciences: Issues in clinical and cognitive neuropsychology. Cambridge, MA: MIT.
Growth-Marnat, G. (Ed.). (2000). Neuropsychological assessment in clinical practice. New York: Wiley.
Scruggs, T. E., & Mastropieri, M. A. (2000). Acalculia. In Encyclopedia of special education (Vol. 1, 2nd ed., p. 27). New York: Wiley.
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Broxterman, K., Wahmhoff, N., Clark, E., Beukema, A. (2018). Acalculia. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_1433
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_1433
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