How is mathematics learning related to mathematics learning disabilities?
Ginsburg (1977) and Baroody (1987) have identified the initial, intuitive stages of mathematics learning as the "informal" stage. A young child learns the language of magnitude (more, less; bigger, smaller) and equivalence (same) at home, long before schooling begins. In much the same way a child learns to chant the alphabet before knowing how to use it, children learn the counting sequence. This sequence is a kind of song, they discover, and it must go in a particular order.