La collaboration mere-enfant en contexte de numeration a la periode prescolaire: L'importance de l'affectivite et des caracteristiques de l'enfan

A number of studies have shown that early parent-child interactions are important in the development of number-related skills (Fluck, 1995; Linnell & Fluck, 2001; Parent et al., 2005; Saxe et al., 1987; Young-loveridge, 1989). Unfortunately, we know very little about the specific components of the parent-child interaction which promotes the development of numeracy skills. As a result, a number of questions remain unanswered. For example, what aspects of the parent-child interaction encourage the development of early numeracy skills? What kind of numeracy skill will benefit from the interaction with the parent during a joint number task?;The aim of this study was to address these questions and to shed some light on the importance of parent-child interactions during the acquisition of numeracy skills. To do this, mother-child interactions were examined during each of two number-related activities. We expected that this kind of dyadic collaboration would reveal important insights on the emergence of early numeracy skills. Moreover, we expected that investigating mother-child interactions would give us information not available when children are tested alone (e.g., numeracy skills children can execute with the help of an adult but not alone). Another important goal of this research was to investigate how the dyadic affective climate established during the number task contributes to mother-child collaborations. A final objective was to explore how the child's verbal comprehension and the diversity of his/her joint experiences with numbers at home, contribute to the collaborative pattern of mother-child interactions. This also allowed us to isolate the unique contribution provided by the affective climate underlying mother-child interactions.;First, using mother-child interactions as a means to assess early numeracy skills, we replicated past findings obtained when child numeracy skills were assessed autonomously (Baroody & Dowker, 2003; Sinclair, 1988). Results from our repeated measure ANOVAs also indicate that mothers adjust their support and the demands of the task to meet their child's skill level. In addition, promoting an enjoyable affective climate and fostering child motivation to complete the task appeared to be a predominant aspect of maternal guidance. Together, these results support the relevance of evaluating children's numeracy skills in a social context and emphasize the importance of taking into account affective dimensions of mother-child interactions when evaluating the development of number-related skills.;Second, results from our MANCOVA reveal that the affective climate underlying mother-child interactions uniquely influence the way mother and child collaborate during a number task. Results also indicate that the child's verbal comprehension and the diversity of his/her joint experiences with numbers at home influence mother-child interactions. Together these results suggest that it is very important to go beyond a first pass analysis of the child's individual characteristics, and to instead, include affective factors as an additional dimension to the study of numeracy skills in preschool children.;This study provides results that improve our understanding of the child's numeracy skills as they develop within the context of mother-child interactions. Our understanding of the maternal behaviours which encourage the development of numeracy skills is also enhanced. Finally this research illustrates the importance of studying the socio-affective context underlying mother-child collaborations with numbers. This finding has important implications for intervention since it suggests that intervention programs should also focus on the mother-child dyad, and in particular on the affective component of this dyad. As a result, intervention programs should encourage the development of harmonious partnerships between mother and child as they engage in number games together.;Key words: numeracy skills, mother˙child interactions, affective climate, verbal comprehension, diversity of joint experiences with numbers.