Heterogeneity in Mathematical Difficulties: From Cognitive Profiles to Mathematical Performance

Mathematics is a diverse discipline that requires a variety of cognitive abilities and presents varying levels of difficulty. Understanding how different cognitive profiles relate to specific patterns of mathematical performance is important for developing effective educational interventions. This study extends our previous research, in which we identified subgroups of children with mathematical difficulties based on their cognitive abilities. We examined 146 Israeli elementary school children in grades 3 and 4, classified into four subgroups: Reading Accuracy Difficulties (RAD), Mild Mathematical Difficulties (MMD), Non-Verbal Reasoning Difficulties (NVRD), and Typically Developing children (TD). Participants were assessed on arithmetic facts, computational fluency, procedural skills, estimation, and numeration. We observed varied performance patterns among subgroups. The RAD group showed the most severe impairments across all mathematical domains, along with reading comorbidity and cognitive difficulties. The MMD group, which maintained intact cognitive skills, faced notable challenges in computation, performing significantly below the TD group but better than the RAD group. The NVRD group, despite limitations in nonverbal reasoning, outperformed other difficulty groups on fact retrieval and estimation. Performance on multiplication and division tasks consistently followed a hierarchical pattern across all difficulty groups, with the RAD group facing the greatest challenges. These findings demonstrate that mathematical difficulties vary across cognitive profiles and that distinguishing between profiles through targeted assessment enables the development of differentiated interventions tailored to each learner’s specific cognitive profile.