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Solving word problems is challenging for many children, but particularly for those with language difficulties. The objective was to examine the nature of the challenges experienced by children with language difficulties as they solved word problems in the context of a developmental‐trajectory instructional sequence. We recruited 45 third graders with (n = 17) and without (n = 28) language difficulties from public and private schools and one speech‐language therapy clinic. They solved word problems with additive change and compare structures and language that was either consistent or inconsistent with the structure. The instruction was based on successive simplifications to the problems whenever the child was unable to apply a structurally appropriate strategy: removing irrelevant literal information from the problem, simplifying the text syntactically, and removing irrelevant numerical information. The performance of children with language difficulties was lower than that of the typically developing children and the simplifications did not support performance to the same extent. The presence of irrelevant numerical information was challenging, especially for children with language difficulties. Removing irrelevant information from the problem was followed by stronger performance on change problems and those with consistent language, revealing that the instructional supports were not sufficient for compare and inconsistent problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transcoding is the process of translating between spoken and written numbers, and it is correlated with other mathematical skills. In the present study, we investigated the link between French number writing of 49 students in the third grade (aged 7–9 years) and their language skills. Transcoding in French is of particular interest because the spoken number language system does not completely correspond to that of the written digits (e.g., quatre-vingt-dix [four-twenty-ten] and 90). We hypothesised that the complex linguistic structure of spoken numbers in French would be challenging for students who are learning to transcode. First and second French-language learners' accuracy and errors were recorded during a writing task of 3- to 7-digit numbers. Children also completed linguistic tests (e.g., receptive vocabulary, receptive syntax). Results showed that first- and second-language learners did not differ in their transcoding accuracy. Number size, decade complexity of stimulus number words in French (i.e., numbers containing a complex decade, operationalized as a number between soixante-dix, 70, and quatre-vingt-dix-neuf, 99), and receptive vocabulary predicted children's French transcoding skills. Students were more likely to produce errors (e.g., 68 or 6018 for 78) when they transcoded complex decade numbers compared with simple decade numbers. When an error was made on the complex decade portion of a number, it was likely a lexical error. In conclusion, third graders, both first- and second-language learners, found complex decade numbers challenging and their performance was related to their general vocabulary skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]