An investigative study of the Bender-Gestalt: clinical validation of its use with a reading disabled population

Investigated usefulness of the Bender-Gestalt in differentiating between primary and secondary reading disability. Research with 50 reading disabled Ss was carried out. The Ss were classified as having a primary or secondary reading disability according to selected criteria; then their Bender protocols were scored. It was hypothesized that developmental scores would differentiate the two diagnostic groups. A second hypothesis was that specific signs would differentiate between primary and secondary reading disabled children. The results supported the latter hypothesis, but not the former. Results also showed that those in the primary group were more reading retarded than secondary reading disability Ss and that Bender-Gestalt scores are not significantly related to reading level in such a group of reading disabled children.