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Perceptual-Motor Abilities and Reversal Frequency of Letters and Numbers in Children Diagnosed with Poor Reading
Danjela Ibrahimi1,2, Marcos Aviles3, Juvenal Rodríguez-Reséndiz3
1Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, Santiago de Querétaro 76010, Mexico.
Insights
Children with poor reading skills often struggle with visual-perceptual and visual-motor skills, impacting their academic success. Early evaluation and intervention in these areas are crucial for improving reading outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Educational Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Poor reading skills in children are a significant concern impacting academic achievement.
- Visual-perceptual and visual-motor skills are fundamental to the reading and writing process.
- Difficulties in these areas may contribute to reading challenges.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate visual-perceptual and visual-motor skills in children with poor reading skills.
- To examine the frequency of letter and number reversals in this population.
- To explore the relationship between perceptual-motor skills, eye movement patterns, and laterality-directionality concepts.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the Test of Visual Perceptual Skills (TVPS-4th), the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI-6th), and the Reversal Frequency Test (RFT).
- Conducted age and sex analyses.
- Assessed the impact of eye movement patterns on perceptual-motor skills and laterality-directionality to predict future outcomes.
Main Results:
- Children with poor reading skills showed deficits in visual-motor integration (VMI-6th) and visual-perceptual skills (TVPS-4th), with most scoring below average.
- Significant age-related differences were observed in TVPS-4th performance.
- A strong correlation was found between TVPS-4th and VMI-6th scores, indicating a relationship between visual perception and motor integration.
Conclusions:
- Children with poor reading skills exhibit difficulties in perceptual-motor skills and letter/number reversals, independent of oculomotor performance.
- Evaluation and treatment of visual and motor processing should be integrated into multidisciplinary approaches for children with reading difficulties.
- Addressing these foundational skills can enhance overall academic achievement in struggling readers.
Purpose:
This paper investigated the visual-perceptual and visual-motor skills and the reversal frequency of letters and numbers that mirror one another in one hundred children aged 6-13 years diagnosed with poor reading skills.
Methods:
TVPS-4th, VMI-6th, and RFT were performed. Age and sex analysis was carried out. The impact of the eye movement patterns in the perceptual-motor skills and laterality-directionality concepts was also estimated to determine the relationship among tests to predict future results.
Results:
Most children scored between average and 3 stds below average on the motor VMI-6th test, while half of the participants scored between average and 2 stds below average on TVPS-4th. In the RFT, the majority scored between average and 1.5 stds below average. Participants scored higher on the spatial relationship subtest of the TVPS-4th and lower in the VMI-6th test (p<0.001). Statistically significant differences were found between the youngest and oldest participants on the TVPS-4th overall performance, as well as VD, FC and VFG skills (p<0.05). A strong relationship was found between the TVPS-4th and VMI-6th, (p<0.001). RFT results were different among all groups (p<0.05). The RFT was better related to the VMI-6th than TVPS-4th; however, it was statistically insignificant. The horizontal component of the DEM test was the best predictor for the TVPS-4th and ratio for the RFT, without attaining statistical significance. No sex differences were found.
Conclusions:
Results showed that children with poor reading skills exhibit perceptual-motor and reversal frequency difficulties, which are independent of the oculomotor performance. Considering that visual and motor processing are essential elements of the reading and writing process, their evaluation and treatment should be included as part of the multidisciplinary approach for children with poor reading skills. This would boost the general outcome and contribute to their academic achievement.
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