ABSTRACT
Typical children soon start to use the specific number words they have heard for particular quantities of things when they see them. It's a useful skill, and as we have seen, there are often finger and physical actions accompanying it. Being able to 'just see' what a number is without conscious effort may seem to be a very simple skill. In fact, it is so basic that it is not even mentioned in the National Curriculum programmes of study. It is, however, the essential preamble for mathematical ideas. It is so important that, without it, practical mathematical or numeric thinking is completely disrupted. Subitising happens before counting, but it also plays an important role in learning to count meaningfully. Perceptual subitising is the first step from an intuitive number sense, as the parts of the brain that observe quantities make connections with areas for verbal language.
