Teacher identification of disturbed visual motor perception in young school children

Includes bibliographical references (pages 37-42)The purpose of this study was to investigate the incidence of immature or malfunctioning visual-motor perception in a group of young school children referred by their classroom teachers as perceptually disturbed. A further intent was to determine possible significance between the group of referred children and a random sample of nonreferred children stratified by number, sex, grade level, and classroom teacher. The first hypothesis stated that there would be a significant difference between the group of children referred as perceptually disturbed and the randomly selected control group. The second hypothesis held that there would be a significant difference between the referred and nonreferred children within selected subgroups representing certain variables related to teaching experience. Data were gathered through administration of the Bender Gestalt Test to 77 kindergarten, first and second grade children in the referred group as well as 77 children in the nonreferred sample group. Bender performance was considered an indice of visual-motor functioning and scored by the Koppitz Developmental Scoring System. Quantified results were subjected to a series of t-tests in order to determine if a statistically significant difference existed between the total mean scores of the referred and nonreferred groups. Further analyses of differences within subgroups representing variables related to teaching experience were subjected to statistical treatment. Hypothesis one was substantiated. Significant differences at the .05 level of confidence were found between the total group of referred children. The second hypothesis was partially substantiated. Statistically significant differences were noted between referred and nonreferred children within subgroups representing total years of teaching experience and within subgroups representing total years of teaching at present grade level. Differences between referred and nonreferred subgroups of kindergarten and first grade children were also statistically significant. Differences were not significant within the subgroup of referred and nonreferred second graders