A Dyslexic Child’s Mental Representations and Strategies in Elementary Arithmetic

This article investigates the mental representations and strategies of a 7-year old dyslexic boy, in the context of elementary arithmetic. The investigation had two distinct phases. The first aimed at investigating the child’s mental representations of arithmetical symbols when these were presented in free-context visual and verbal form. The second phase focused on his strategies and mental representations when dealing with additions and subtractions. The results suggest that the boy projects specific and episodic mental representations which are related to his mental representations and counting strategies in mental arithmetic.