Relevance of norms and psychometric properties of three standardised visual perceptual tests for children attending mainstream schools in Gauteng

Abstract

Introduction: Occupational therapists routinely assess children's visual perceptual and visual-motor integration skills. To determine visual perception and visual-motor integration dysfunction, occupational therapists use standardised visual perceptual assessment instruments. For accurate results, the norms used to evaluate the outcomes of the tests need to reflect the ability of the population on which they are used.

This study aimed to determine the comparison of scores for a sample of 6 to 9 year old South African children attending schools in middle socio-economic urban areas, to American norms on standardised visual perceptual tests - the Test of Visual Perceptual Skills Third Edition (TVPS-3), the Developmental Test of Visual Perception - Third Edition (DTVP-3) and the Developmental Test of Visual-Motor integration - Sixth Edition (Beery VMI-6).

Method: A cross-sectional, quantitative design was utilised. Forty-eight children aged 6 years 0 months to 9 years 11 months participated in the study. The TVPS-3, DTVP-3 and Beery VMI-6 were administered to each participant as prescribed.

Results: The scores for the typical children fell within the American norms reported for all three tests. The DTVP-3, TVPS-3 and Beery VMI-6 were found to show little convergence in the scores but exhibited adequate internal consistency for the South African sample.

Conclusion The scores on the DTVP-3, TVPS-3 and Beery VMI-6 for South African children were similar to the American norms in identifying visual perceptual and VMI dysfunction and are suitable for use with children attending schools in a middle socio-economic urban area.

Keywords

Visual perception, visual-motor integration, standardised tests, TVPS-3, DTVP-3, Beery VMI-6