Developmental Level Measurement with a Star-Wave Test for Children, with Yalon’s Maturity (M) Scale

Abstract

With the star-wave test, Maturity (M) Scale invented by Yalon and Zion allows you to utilize as evaluation standards for necessary general developmental skill for school education. A low score on the M scale indicates that the learning ability is underdeveloped, and also indicates the existence of developmental delays such as intellectual impairment and learning disability or organ problems. In this study, we apply the star-wave drawing test to 134 young children in Japan and compare the data between 5-year-olds from Japan and 5-year-olds from Israel to see the applicability of the M scale proposed by Yalon and Zion in other countries. In terms of M scale, we conducted a t-test to see if there is any gap among average scores between Japanese 5-year-olds and Israeli 5-year-olds. The significant difference was recognized at the 5% level; it turned out that Japanese 5-year-olds got much higher M scale scores than Israeli 5-year-olds. This fact shows that the M scale reflects the developmental standard for children in Japan. Also, by examining drawing characteristics made by the normal children and handicapped children (intellectually handicapped children, down syndrome children, cerebral palsy), the relationship between the M scale and the intellectual ability or writing motion function of the children was confirmed.