Visual discrimination and visuomotor integration among two classes of Brazilian children

The Raven Matrices, Beery, and Bender-Gestalt tests were given to 415 Brazilian children in public and private schools corresponding to two socioeconomic statuses. Both social class and grade in school influenced all scores more than age. The Raven Matrices appeared to be the most affected by social class differences. Visual-motor integration and visual discrimination skills were moderately (.47-.69) correlated, especially among the private school students. Maturational differences based on age and school grade were considered somewhat better assessed by the Beery than the Raven or Bender-Gestalt tests. The wide age range at each grade and the decreasing enrollment in higher grades makes interpretation difficult.