Identifying Numbers

SKILL: Numbers

DIFFICULTY: 1

LEVELS: 20 based on the number of choices and digits

BRIEF RATIONALE: Recognizing numbers is an essential skill for daily life.

In Identifying Numbers, you will hear a spoken number and select the digits that match. The treatment auto-adjusts in difficulty based on performance.

HINT: A hint button is available in the lower-left corner of the screen to reveal the written number word. Using the hint will mark the item as incorrect (as it was not answered with the auditory stimulus only), but may help you match the digits.

FOR THE CLINICIAN:

Transcoding refers to the ability to convert numbers between formats, like hearing "fourteen" and writing "14" or seeing the Arabic numeral "3" and writing "three." In aphasia, the type of transcoding error a person makes tends to mirror the broader language impairment.

People with Broca's aphasia struggle with syntax, and this tends to carry over into number processing. When transcoding, they tend to get the order of magnitude wrong (Proios et al., 2021). They might hear "thirty-six" (a tens number) and write "3" (a unit number) or see "250" and say "twenty-five" (Delazar & Bartha, 2001). The right elements are present, but the structure breaks down.

Individuals with Wernicke's aphasia produce lexical errors, which is also reflected in their number errors (Proios et al., 2021). Rather than getting the magnitude wrong, they might swap out individual number elements for incorrect ones. For example, they might hear "forty-eight" and write 35. The lexical class is preserved, but the specific elements are wrong (Delazar & Bartha, 2001).

These error patterns directly informed the foil selection in the Identifying Numbers treatment. Foils for double-digit targets include transposed numbers, numbers sharing the same first digit, numbers sharing the same last digit, and single digits contained within the target - each designed to target the specific breakdown points seen in aphasia.

Number frequency and age of acquisition were also considered when determining the treatment levels, which progress in the following order:

• Single digits 0–9
• Teens 10–19
• Fives and tens (e.g., 20, 25, 30, 40, 45, 50)
• Double digits below 60 ending in single digits (e.g., 41, 42, 43, 44)
• Double digits above 60 ending in single digits (e.g., 81, 82, 83, 84)

Selected References:

1. Delazer, M., & Bartha, L. (2001). Transcoding and calculation in aphasia. Aphasiology, 15(7), 649–679. https://doi.org/10.1080/02687040143000104
2. Proios, H., Tsakpounidou, K., Karapanayiotides, T., Priftis, K., & Semenza, C. (2021). Aphasia and math: Deficits with basic number comprehension and in numerical activities of daily living. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 27(9), 939–951. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1355617720001368