Mental Math: Addition

SKILL:  Numbers

DIFFICULTY: 2

LEVELS: 14 based on the number of double digits, number of terms added together, and if carryover is required or not

BRIEF RATIONALE: Mental math uses working memory and is needed for many daily living tasks.

In Mental Math: Addition, you will solve addition questions. The treatment auto-adjusts in difficulty based on performance.


WORDS BUTTON: This reveals the written number words (e.g., three, twelve), along with audio of the corresponding number words. There is no penalty for using this support.


HINT BUTTON: A hint button is available in the lower-left corner of the screen to show a visual representation of the numbers to help you add them together. Using the hint will mark the item as incorrect (as it was not answered independently), but may help you figure out the total by grouping numbers together or counting.

FOR THE CLINICIAN:


Addition is a foundational skill for other math operations, so it makes sense to address it early for patients with acalculia. Mental math relies on attention, working memory, and executive function. In fact, people with strong working memory skills tend to perform better on mental math tasks (Dattola et al., 2023).


This treatment starts with adding 2 single digits and progresses to adding 3 double digits requiring carryover. This allows drilled practice of arithmetic facts, which are stored in semantic memory (Zamarian et al., 2022). As the treatment advances, patients have the opportunity to practice arithmetic procedures, a skill needed for many daily living tasks. They can incorporate cognitive strategies that carryover to real life, like saying the equation aloud and/or checking the answer before submitting.

Check out this article, What SLPs Need to Know about Acalculia, for more information and references.

The report for this treatment includes average time per problem for each level, so you can easily track progress related to processing speed in addition to accuracy.


To train strategies specific to addition and mental math, look for the handout called Strategies for Math in Everyday Life in the Virtual Rehab Center.

Selected References:

  1. Dattola, S., Bonanno, L., Ielo, A., Quercia, A., Quartarone, A., & La Foresta, F. (2023). Brain active areas associated with a mental arithmetic task: An eLORETA study. Bioengineering, 10(12), 1388. https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering10121388
  2. Zamarian, L., Delazer, M., & Semenza, C. (2022). Arithmetic (re-)learning in neurological patients. Lernen Und Lernstörungen, 11(4). https://doi.org/10.1024/2235-0977/a000377
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