Abstract

There is an ongoing debate about the aetiological origin of mathematical learning disabilities (MLD), particularly concerning whether the difficulties shown by these children stem from general or specific cognitive factors. This debate underscores the importance of identifying early cognitive deficits in MLD, which may lead to better early detection and intervention practices. The objective of this research was to identify early general and/or specific cognitive deficits in children with MLD from a longitudinal perspective. We specifically aimed to test domain-general cognitive deficits as well as symbolic versus non-symbolic domain-specific deficits as early precursors of MLD. A total of 226 children were assessed in kindergarten using domain-general and domain-specific cognitive tasks and were followed up to the second year of primary school, at which point 14 were identified as having MLD (scoring below the 10th percentile in a standardized math task). Results of a logistic regression indicated that symbolic comparison, number identification, and working memory (specifically the executive component) were significant early longitudinal predictors of MLD. Implications for early identification are discussed. © © 2025. Published by Elsevier Ltd.