The Relationship of Motor Coordination, Visual Perception, and Executive Function to the Development of 4-6-Year-Old Chinese Preschoolers' Visual Motor Integration Skills.

Ying Fang,Ying Zhang,Jingmei Wang,Jinliang Qin

doi:10.1155/2017/6264254

Abstract

Visual motor integration (VMI) is a vital ability in childhood development, which is associated with the performance of many functional skills. By using the Beery Developmental Test Package and Executive Function Tasks, the present study explored the VMI development and its factors (visual perception, motor coordination, and executive function) among 151 Chinese preschoolers from 4 to 6 years. Results indicated that the VMI skills of children increased quickly at 4 years and peaked at 5 years and decreased at around 5 to 6 years. Motor coordination and cognitive flexibility were related to the VMI development of children from 4 to 6 years. Visual perception was associated with the VMI development at early 4 years and inhibitory control was also associated with it among 4-year-old and the beginning of 5-year-old children. Working memory had no impact on the VMI. In conclusion, the development of VMI skills among children in preschool was not stable but changed dynamically in this study. Meanwhile the factors of the VMI worked in different age range for preschoolers. These findings may give some guidance to researchers or health professionals on improving children's VMI skills in their early childhood.

Highlights

Visual motor integration (VMI) can be defined as the extent to which visual perception and finger-hand movements are well coordinated [1]
Many researchers reported that the VMI skills of western children developed quickly in the early childhood and the trajectory of VMI development among western children was consistent before 3 years, but was inconsistent from 3 to 7 years [1, 11, 12]
In order to explore the factors influencing the development of the VMI skills, the results revealed that the motor coordination, visual perception, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility were predictors of the VMI skills on different ages

Summary

Introduction

Visual motor integration (VMI) can be defined as the extent to which visual perception and finger-hand movements are well coordinated [1]. As a vital assessment for child development, many studies found that the VMI skills had a positive influence on fine motor development [2, 3] and self-regulation [4]. It could predict the further handwriting performance [5,6,7] and academic achievements [8,9,10]. Many researchers reported that the VMI skills of western children developed quickly in the early childhood and the trajectory of VMI development among western children was consistent before 3 years, but was inconsistent from 3 to 7 years [1, 11, 12]. The VMI skills of children in early childhood developed dynamically

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion