Some Cautions on the Use of the Frostig Test

Abstract

Evidence to date suggests that the Frostig test may measure fewer than five discrete aspects of perception, and its use as a diagnostic instrument for planning educational remediation and as a predictor of reading achievement has been questioned. Yet it is still widely used for these purposes in school and clinical settings. The Frostig, WISC, and a reading achievement measure were administered to a sample of 43 elementary school children referred for educational assessment, and the results were factor analyzed. The findings suggest that the Frostig test measures a single general factor of perceptual organization which is weakly related to IQ and unrelated to reading ability. The nature of the test norms above age eight and a negative relationship between age and test scores also affect certain uses of the test.

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