Prismatic Adaptation and Visuo-Motor Skils in Children with Learning Disabilities

Abstract

Two groups of children, both presenting difficulties in academic achievement, but one with and one without visuomotor impairments, were assessed. The purpose of the study was to determine whether poor drawing ability was related to any of the following: disorders of perceptual analysis, disorders of motor or executive skills, disorders of perception or motor integration. A guessing-game technique involving the serial analysis of a visual array, was given to measure the perceptual competence of a child. Motor skills were assessed by a simple motor test which did not depend on visual input. Perceptual-motor integration was explored through the use of prismatically induced visual distortion. The results were interpreted to indicate that the child who draws poorly is characterized by disorders of perceptual analysis and visuomotor integration.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abercrombie, M.L.J. : Perceptual and visuo-motor disorders in cerebral palsy. Little Club Clinics in Developmental Medicine, No. 11. London: Spastics Society with William Heinemann Books, 1964.

Attneave, F. : Applications of Information Theory to Psychology. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1959.

Badell-Ribera, A. , Schulman, K. , Paddock, N. : The relationship of non-progressive hydrocephalus to intellectual functioning in children with spina bifida cystica. Pediatrics, 1966, 37, 787–793.

Bossom, J. , Ommaya, A.K. : Visuo-motor adaptation (to prismatic transformation of the retinal image) in monkeys with bilateral dorsal rhizotomy. Brain, 1968, 91, 161–172.

Connolly, K. : Sensory-motor co-ordination: mechanisms and plans. In: P. Wolff and R. MacKeith (Eds.), Planning for better learning. London: Spastics Internat. Med. Pub., 1969, 20–36.

Frostig, M. , Lefever, D.W. , Whittlesey, J.R.B. : A developmental test of visual perception for evaluating normal and neurologically handicapped children. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1961, 12, 383–394.

Held, R. , Bossom, J : Neonatal deprivation and adult re-arrangement: complimentary techniques for analyzing plastic sensory-motor co-ordination. J. Comp. Physiol. Psychol., 1961, 54, 33–37.

Held, R. , Freedman, S.J. : Plasticity in human sensorimotor control. Science, 1963, 142, 455–462.

Koppitz, E.M. : The Bender Gestalt Test for Young Children. New York: Grune & Stratton, 1964.