ABSTRACT
Many people seem to assume that the skill of 'counting' gradually happens through practising the counting words. Generally, teachers are very conscious of the sub-skills that young children need to learn before they read or write. A wide range of pre-reading and pre-writing materials are available to help develop constituent literacy skills. Even when the physical actions and words of counting are learned, that is not the end of it, because to be useful, all that word production and itemising needs to be done with a purpose that the child understands. Because we have the misconception that counting is one simple skill, adults are often frustrated when special pupils struggle. To relieve the frustration and find ways to teach, we need to understand that counting is a collection of skills and knowledge that have to be synchronised.
