The Relationship between Measures of Pre-Reading Visual Discrimination and First Grade Reading Achievement: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

ACCUMULATED RESEARCH evidence which deals with the relationships between various types of visual discrimination abilities and first-grade reading achievement is reviewed. The relative predictive power of visual discrimination of letters, words, geometric designs, and pictures when these abilities are studied individually and in combination is indicated. The following generalizations are presented: z] Visual discrimination of letters and words has a somewhat higher predictive relationship with first-grade reading achievement than does visual discrimination of geometric designs and pictures; 21 several tasks requiring discrimination of geometric designs and pictures have predictive possibilities and warrant additional study; 31 there is no clear-cut information as to whether discrimination of letters or discrimination of words has a superior relationship with early reading achievement; 41 There is a need for investigations that employ statistical designs which utilize multivariate analysis.