Autor: Pekka Rasanen

Annemarie Fritz-Stratmann is full professor of Psychology at the University of Duisburg-Essen,  Germany, where she runs a research and counseling center for children with learning difficulties. She received a Ph D in Psychology from the University of Cologne and has habilitation in psychology of special education and rehabilitation from the University of Dortmund. Since 2015 she is Distinguished Visiting professor at the University of Johannesburg. In the past 25 years her research turned to children with mathematical learning difficulties. Here, the focus of her scientific work was the empirical validation of a development model of key numerical concepts and arithmetic skills from age 4 to 8. Based on this model some diagnostic assessments (MARKO-Series) and training programs for pre-school and elementary school-children were developed. Recently her Dr. Fritz  extended her interests to mathematical problems in secondary education and on math anxiety. She acts as a consultant to several scientific journals.  Vitor Geraldi Haase is full professor of Psychology at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil. He graduated in medicine, did his medical residency in pediatric neurology, has an M.A. in applied linguistics and a Ph.D. in medical psychology (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität zu München). Working at UFMG since 1995, he heads the Laboratory for Developmental Neuropsychology and Número, a clinic for math learning difficuties. He has been doing clinical work and research on numerical cognition applied to math learning difficulties for the last 10 years. The main focus of this research is the characterization of the molecular-genetic variability underlying the cognitive mechanisms associated with math learning difficulties and math anxiety. Dr. Haase is the author of more than 85 scientific articles and 42 book chapters; editor of three multi-authored books and consultant to several scientific journals. He has a research productivity grant from the Brazilian Council of Scientific and Technological Research (CNPq). Pekka Räsänen is a clinical neuropsychologist and a principal investigator in Niilo Mäki Institute, Jyväskylä, Finland. After his graduation he has worked as a junior researcher in the Finnish Academy of Science, and as an interim associate professor of psychology in the University of Lapland. Since 1997 he has worked as a researcher and as an executive vice director in the Niilo Mäki Institute, which is the largest and most influential research unit on learning disabilities in Finland offering also clinical services, further education and a publication unit. The main focus of his research has been assessment and interventions of mathematical learning disabilities. He has written and co-authored over 50 academic publications and developed most of the standardised tests of mathematical disabilities used in Finland. Hehas also conducted studies on early grade mathematics learning in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. Together with his colleagues, he has developed intervention programs on language and mathematics for early education, as well as adaptive computer-assisted tests and rehabilitation programs for mathematical learning disabilities.