The effects of family support on preschoolers' early numeracy

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the effects of family support on preschoolers’ early numeracy. Ninety-two preschoolers’ performance in early numeracy was predicted by the frequencies of home numeracy activities through reports from parents’ questionnaire, and was reassessed after thirty-nine parents who attended training had conducted home numeracy activities in the following two weeks. Measures of early numeracy skills focused on children’s knowledge in number word sequence, one-to-one correspondence, cardinality, and classification of objects. Results from regression analysis showed that frequencies of home numeracy activities reported by parents strongly predicted children’s numerical abilities. In particular, higher frequencies of arithmetic activities predicted children’s performance in number word sequence and classification ability. Results from ANCOVA revealed children whose parents were instructed to conduct more home numeracy activities with them showed better performance in classification of pictures according to their attributes than their peers whose parents were not instructed to do so. Overall, home numeracy activities showed tendencies in benefitting acquisition of early numeracy skills among preschool children.