Shanghai clinic helps kids with low spatial, mathematics abilities

The Shanghai Children's Medical Center has recently opened a special clinic for children who are having difficulties with spatial abilities and mathematics — possibly the first of its kind on the Chinese mainland.

Three of the six children who attended last week were found to have significant learning difficulties, according to doctors at the clinic, which is jointly operated by the center's mental health team and the School of Psychology at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and will be available once a week.

The clinic aims to develop holistic intervention strategies for each child.

Doctors said that the clinic is opened to youths with learning difficulties involving geometry, algebra and spatial vectors, especially graphics, spatial relationships, tables and abstract symbols.

Spatial cognitive ability plays a crucial role in a student's ability to solve math problems, especially geometric ones, the doctors said. The deficiency in spatial perception and imagination can adversely affect a student's performance in subjects such as algebra, physics and chemistry.

Neuroimaging studies also showed that students who find it difficult to learn geometry have less activity in the parietal lobe region of their brain related to spatial reasoning, the doctors added.

Ma Xiquan, a doctor specializing in mental health at the center's department of developmental-behavioral pediatrics, said that the children who were diagnosed and treated last week were between the ages of 10 and 14, and there was an equal number of boys and girls.

The doctors spent about half an hour talking with them and their parents about their learning difficulties, and each child was asked to answer questions and complete tests, which took one to two hours.

"The assessment covers psychological, intellectual, attention, spatial and math abilities," Ma said. "Based on the results, we will determine whether to give a diagnosis or a referral to another clinic."

He gave an example of a boy who showed difficulty when doctors asked him to describe what an apple looks like, and to mark where Chongqing and Shanghai are located on a map. Based on the child's responses, Ma said he might have aphantasia, a disorder that blocks individuals from having visual imagination, keeping them from picturing things in their minds.

"What's seen is that he has a poor score in math, but the problem will actually cause him to deal with other inconveniences in life," Ma said.

Visual spatial training as well as physical activity and spatial training may help such children, he said.

"For example, parents can give the children a 2D or 3D graphic, and let them rotate it and think about how it will look like after rotations at different angles. Jigsaw puzzles can also help them understand shapes, spatial relationships and structures," he said.

Obstacle courses or orienteering can also help improve spatial awareness and cognitive skills, doctors said, and improvements are usually seen in at least three to six months.

Lu Huanghua, a primary school mathematics teacher in Shanghai for 15 years, said that he and many colleagues expressed support when learning about such medical intervention methods designed to assist students in math learning.

"Some children have a good learning attitude and high interest in learning, but they don't perform well in math. It will be beneficial for such students if we can tackle the problem from the root through medical means and work out necessary adjustments," Lu said.