Reading Ability and Visual-Motor Function in Second Grade Children

Abstract

One of the many causes of reading disabiliry is a defective visual-motor function. Between the ages of 6 and 8, visual-motor efficiency is at a critical point in development, and it is the time when most children are beginning to learn to read. It was, therefore, the purpose of this srudy to investigate the relationship between reading ability in second grade children and visual-motor ability as measured by the MemoryFor-Designs Test (MFD) and a balance test. Thirty-five second grade children, ranging in age from 7 yr., 5 mo. to 8 yr., 5 mo., were tested near the end of the school year on the MFD Test (Graham & Kendall, 1960), the Goodenough Intelligence Test (1926), and on total balance as measured by static and dynamic balance (Scott, 1950). T he MFD Test was given twice within a week; product-moment r = .83 between the two administrations. Ss were classified into three groups according to their reading ability on rhe Scott Foresman Reading Series (Gray, 1946-47). The biggest difference in reading ability came between the middle and low classifications, and because the numbers were small, the high and middle groups were combined into a high group. Comparisons were then made between the high and the low groups. There were 12 boys and 12 girls in the high group, and 8 boys and 3 girls in the low group. The division for the MFD Test was arbitrarily taken at a raw score of 8. The mean score for the high reading group was 3.54, and that for the low group 10.18. The x' of 8.1803, comparing 20 good and 4 poor MFD scores for the high readers and 3 good and 8 poor MFD scores for the low readers, was significant beyond the .O1 level. The x2 for reading and intelligence was .071, which was not significant. The correlation between the MFD Test and Goodenough Intelligence Test was - .1164, and between the MFD and balance, - ,2781. However, when che groups were divided for good and poor MFD scores, the mean balance of the good group was 79.71 (SD of 25.593) and that of the poor group, 53 (SD of 22.293). The mean difference of 26.71 (SE of 11.40) in favor of the good group (t = 2.3429) was significant at the .05 level. The low correlation berween the Goodenough and the MFD is not too surprising when it is considered (although both involve a visual-motor component) that they are measuring two different things and the scoring of each involves a different set of principles. Kendall (1948) found no significant correlation between reading retardation and the MFD Test in children from 6 to 16 yr. of age. However, the results of this study suggest that for this group, reading retardation is related to visual-motor development as measured by the Graham-Kendall Memory-For-Designs Test.