Visual-motor Development Research Articles

Vestibular Stimulation in Early Childhood: A Review

Vestibular stimulation provided through rocking, spinning, or other movement experiences has been shown to have a significant influence upon arousal level, visual alertness, visual tracking behavior, motor development, and reflex development. Research also suggests possible influences upon cognitive development and development of mother-infant attachment. In this article, literature describing the effect of vestibular stimulation is reviewed, with particular attention directed toward use of this form of stimulation with handicapped infants and young children. information provided is applicable to children with the range of disabilities commonly encountered in early intervention programs.

Eye Movements Initiate Visual-Motor Development in the Cat

Visually naïve kittens turn their eyes toward visual targets but lack other visual-motor coordinations. Light-reared animals were able to mediate guided behaviors with an immobilized eye, but animals with the eye immobilized before initial exposure to a lighted environment were not. Eye movement is implied to play an essential role in visual-motor development.

Vestibular Hyporeactivity in Infants at Risk for Schizophrenia

Vestibular responses to caloric stimulation were measured from birth to age 2 years in ten infants born to schizophrenic mothers. This is part of a study of evolving neurointegrative disorders that may be associated with a genetic risk for schizophrenia. Transiently decreased vestibular responses coincided with several developmental disorders that were related to psychopathology at 10 years. Absent to decreased responses were associated with (1) a "pandevelopmental retardation" involving physical growth as well as postural-motor and visual-motor development, (2) an "abnormally quiet" state in the first month, and (3) failures of bimanual integration between 4 and 6 months. The transitory nature of the decreased nystagmus rules out the possibility of an organic lesion of the vestibular system. Rather, it suggests that some covert decrease in arousal accompanied those periods when central nervous system integration was disrupted.

An Approach to Prevention in Infants at Risk for Schizophrenia: Developmental Deviations from Birth to 10 Years

The approach to prevention which is discussed below is based on intensive longitudinal observations of infants at risk for schizophrenia. In earlier papers, I have presented the quantitative analyses of the repeated infant tests, which revealed periods of “pandevelopmental retardation” in about half of the offspring of schizophrenic mothers (Fish, 1975). During these periods there was a widespread disorganization of maturation which involved deviations in physical growth, postural-motor and visual-motor development, state behavior, and vestibular responses (Fish, 1953, 1959, 1963, 1975; Fish and Alpert, 1962, 1963; Fish et al., 1965, 1966b; Fish and Hagin, 1973). The pattern differed from what is usually seen in chronic organic brain syndromes, showing a different profile of deficits, a fluctuating longitudinal course, and other unusual irregularities in development (Fish, 1975). This pandevelopmental retardation identified the infants who were independently assessed as having the most severe psychiatric disorders at 10 years (Fish, 1975). Meehl (1962) postulated that what is inherited in schizophrenia is “a subtle neurointegrative defect” which he termed “schizotaxia.”

DEVELOPMENT OF VISUAL PERCEPTION IN THE VERY YOUNG INFANT — A REVIEW

This paper is addressed to the effects of experience on the developing nervous system of the very young infant. Particular attention is paid to visual and visual-motor development.

From Birth to Latency: Behavioral Differences in a Multiracial Group of Twins

WERNER, EMMY E. From Birth to Latency: Behavioral Differences in a Multiracial Group of Twins. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1973, 44, 438-444. Intrapair differences in a multiracial group of twins, from the cohort of 1955-57 births on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, are reported for infant behavior ratings and cognitive skills in early and middle childhood. Among discordant twins, both MZ and DZ, the second-born had experienced more adverse perinatal events than the first-born. Birth sequence differentiated more among discordant twins than birth weight, favoring the first-born on maternal ratings of activity at year 1; Cattell IQ at year 2; PMA reasoning factor, visual-motor development, and school achievement at year 10. Intrapair differences in activity level, sociability, and temper at 1 year persisted and were related to cognitive skills at 2 and 10 years.

Visual-motor disorders in infants at risk for schizophrenia.

Visual-motor development was measured from birth to two years in ten infants born to schizophrenic mothers, in a study of evolving disorders at various levels of brain function. On independent psychological evaluation after ten years, one child was schizophrenic and seven had severe to moderate disorders. Retardation of midline, bimanual manipulation in the first year was related to later emotional impairment. Failure on the formboard in the second year was related to visual-spatial deficits on the block design subtest of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. This corroborates earlier evidence of poor neurologic integration in infants vulnerable to schizophrenia, and suggests an early mechanism for the poor integration of vision and proprioception seen in schizophrenic adults.

Visual-motor disorders in infants at risk for schizophrenia.

Visual-motor development was measured from birth to two years in ten infants born to schizophrenic mothers, in a study of evolving disorders at various levels of brain function. On independent psychological evaluation after ten years, one child was schizophrenic and seven had severe to moderate disorders. Retardation of midline, bimanual manipulation in the first year was related to later emotional impairment. Failure on the formboard in the second year was related to visual-spatial deficits on the block design subtest of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. This corroborates earlier evidence of poor neurologic integration in infants vulnerable to schizophrenia, and suggests an early mechanism for the poor integration of vision and proprioception seen in schizophrenic adults.

Nutrition, Cognitive Status and Achievement Motivation of New Delhi Nursery School Children

Significant differences in head circumference and growth rate, the Draw-A-Man IQ and measures of visual-motor development were found between 24 inadequately and 16 adequately nourished New Delhi nursery school children from lower-middle class homes. No differences were found on measures of language development when parental income, occupation and nursery school attendance were controlled. Results of achievement motivation tests varied with the sex of the child. On most measures, inadequately nourished children showed greater variability than the adequately nourished, and inadequately nourished girls had lower mean scores than inadequately nourished boys.

Visual Processing Training With the Tachistoscope

Diagnostic testing in kindergarten and the primary grades of children who are experiencing learning disabilities has revealed certain consistent perceptual deficiencies. Among these are poor figure ground relationships, poorly developed perceptual form constancy, inadequate spatial and directional relationships, immature visual motor development and finally, poor short term visual memory as measured with a tachistoscope. It is the purpose of this paper to establish a set of expected tachistoscopic responses using three digits at 0.1 and 0.01 seconds for children in the sixth month of grade one whose average age is six years, five months. Using a sample of 250 children, the mean, the median scores and a percentile scale have been developed so that a child in grades one, two or three who is experiencing a perceptual deficit can be compared to the grade one child. The coefficient of correlations between success in reading and tachistoscopic response at each speed has been calculated.

Relation of Visual-Motor Skills and Reading Achievement in Primary-Grade Pupils of Superior Ability

Second and third grade pupils ( ns = 23, 27, 24, 26) of superior intelligence were dichotomized into subgroups on the basis of visual-motor development as measured by the Bender-Gestalt. Bender and WISC scores were significantly correlated with reading at the second grade level but not at the third grade. The relationship of reading to visual-motor development and the learning of other skills to read for this type of pupil is suggested.

Reading Ability and Visual-Motor Function in Second Grade Children

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.