Aged-based differences in spatial language skills from 6 to 10 years: Relations with spatial and mathematics skills

Spatial language is the language of spatial concepts and spatial relationships. Prior research has demonstrated an association between spatial language and spatial thinking in pre-school children. However, there is limited evidence exploring age-based differences in spatial language in older childhood. This cross-sectional study has three main aims. First, we present a novel spatial language measure and show differences in spatial language performance across age groups from 6 to 10 years (N = 155). Second, having demonstrated that our measure is sensitive to age-based progression, we use regression analyses to determine relations between spatial language and performance on a range of spatial tasks (r2:1.2%–9.0%). Third, we investigate the relations between spatial language and different mathematics skills (r2:0.2%–15.4%) and propose mechanisms that may explain these associations. We discuss how these findings lay a foundation for future spatial language interventions as a novel tool which may lead to educational improvements in mathematics.•Spatial language skills show progression between 6 and 10 years.•Spatial language comprehension is stronger than production in middle childhood.•Spatial language is associated with performance on some spatial measures.•Spatial language is a significant predictor of a range of mathematics skills.•These findings lay a foundation for future spatial language interventions