Emergent mathematics describes how children construct mathematics from the day they are born and continuing throughout their lives through a combination of their cognitive development and interaction with you. It is just like emerging literacy; The more you read and talk to your baby, their understanding of your native language emerges. It is the same for mathematics. If you immerse your baby in mathematics from the day they are born their knowledge of numbers will emerge naturally.

Both emergent mathematics and emergent literacy imply that young children, whether they are just 6 weeks, 6 months, or 6 years old, need to be immersed in mathematics and literacy from the day they are born through interactions with you.

Noam Chomsky, a famous cognitive scientist, and American theoretical linguist, discovered strong evidence for an innate “language acquisition device” that provides humans with a framework for learning language (Chomsky, 2006; Chomsky, 2002). The internal structure of this “device” allows children to interact with language at a very early age without being directly taught the rules of grammar and syntax (Otto, 2002).  

Reading to infants, toddlers, and pre-schoolers is known to be an early predictor of positive literacy because it immerses children in language and allows them to interact with it (Feiler & Webster, 1997; Kamii, Manning, & Manning, 1991; Lally et al., 2001; Pickett, 1998).

You can view mathematical understanding in a very similar way!  There is evidence for a “mathematical acquisition device” (MAD) that provides a framework for mathematical concepts similar in function to the “language acquisition device” (Butterworth, 1999; Butterworth, 2005). 

Even during the first few months of life, your baby is beginning to construct the foundations for future mathematical concepts as they engage mentally, physically, and socially with their environment and with you, family, and friends.

Even before your little one can add or count, he must construct ideas about mathematics that cannot be and should not be directly taught at this stage. Just like you don’t directly teach them about grammar, you just talk to them, read to them, and their language knowledge grows naturally.  

Their “Mathematics Acquisition Device” allows your son to acquire some mathematical concepts without directly teaching them. They follow a general standard sequence of gradual development which I will share with you. They construct these mathematical concepts from a very early age, especially if you provide them with a stimulating environment.  

The takeaway is that you must immerse your baby in language and mathematics for success in school and life!