A comparison of special education teacher and psychologist scoring of the Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test

Ten learning disabilities resource room teachers were provided with inservice training in the administration of the Bender visual Motor Gestalt Test (BVMGT) and the Koppitz (1964) scoring system. Following this training the teachers administered the BVMGT to students in grades 1–6 and scored each protocol using the Koppitz scoring system. Two certified school psychologists then independently scored a random selection of teacher-administered and scored BVMGT protocols. Results of these ratings were used to analyze the interrater consistencies for the groups of raters. The reported correlations between teachers and school psychologists compared favorably to correlations between school psychologists as well as to interrater reliabilities reported in the literature. The results of this investigation indicate that the Koppitz scoring system may be reliably used by special education teachers who are provided appropriate inservice training.     

Race differences on the developmental test of Visual Motor Integration,the Slosson Intelligence Test,and the ABC Inventory

Preschoolers' scores on the Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration (VMI), the Slosson Intelligence Test (SIT), and the ABC Inventory (ABCI) were analyzed for race and sex differences. Separate ANOVAs revealed no race effect on the VMI, whereas race differences favoring whites were found for the SIT and ABCI. There were no effects for sex on any measure, nor were there any interactions. Results are discussed in terms of the inconsistent findings for race effects in the perceptual-motor literature.     

The Bender Gestalt Test: A review of reported research with school-age subjects, 1966-1977

The past 11 years of published research investigating the use of the Bender Gestalt Test with school-age children are reviewed. Seen as a psychometric instrument, scored according to standardized procedures, this recent work does not conclusively support the use of the test for prediction of school achievement. Nor does it offer any substantial support for individual diagnosis of neurological impairment or emotional disturbance. Test scores from group and individual administration appear equivalent. Deprived and minority group performance has differed significantly from the Koppitz norms in a number of studies and bears further investigation.     

A comparison of the Visual Aural Digit Span and the Bender Gestalt as discriminators of low achievement in the primary grades

The Visual Aural Digit Span (VADS) and the Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test (Bender) were studied with regard to their ability to discriminate low from average achievers in reading and arithmetic skills, as identified by the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. A sample of 78 normal children aged 6 through 9 were administered a battery of tests, including the verbal section of the WISC-R. Analysis of covariance with IQ controlled showed that the Bender and the VADS were able to discriminate between achievement groups for vocabulary and math concepts. The Bender discriminated between math problem-solving groups, but neither test could discriminate between reading comprehension groups. Age was a significant variable for the Bender and all VADS subtests except Aural-Written. Correlational analysis indicated that although the VADS was related to Verbal IQ, it is related only minimally to the Bender when age is controlled.     

Interrater reliability of the original and a revised scoring system for the developmental test of visual-motor integration

This study investigated the interrater reliability of teachers' and school psychology ex-terns' scoring of protocols for the Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI). Previous studies suggest that the scoring criteria of the VMI are ambiguous, which when coupled with raters' lack of scoring experience, as well as limited knowledge of testing issues, contributes to low rater reliability. The original manual scoring system was used by four trained teachers with no VMI experience and by four experienced raters. A VMI scoring system, revised to eliminate ambiguous scoring criteria, was used by an additional four teachers inexperienced with the VMI and by four experienced raters. High reliability coefficients (>.90) were found for all raters, regardless of the scoring system employed. The influence on interrater reliability of factors such as training, nature of the training setting, characteristics of the raters, and ambiguity of scoring criteria is discussed.     

Expanded Koppitz scoring system of the bender gestalt visual-motor test for adolescents: A pilot study

The current research represented a pilot study to assess the use of the Bender Gestalt Visual-Motor Test with school-age adolescents over 11 years of age. Research regarding the accuracy of the hypothesis that visual-motor integration functioning is normally intact by age 11 was presented. In addition, initial data to extend the Koppitz scoring system of the Bender for ages 11 years, 6 months through 15 years, 11 months was proposed. Mean error scores from the pilot study suggested that visual-motor development is not maturationally complete by age 11 years, 11 months. Additional research focusing on extending the normative sample or developing a new scoring system for adolescents is suggested.     

The Effectiveness of the Responsive Teaching Parent-mediated Developmental Intervention Programme in Turkey: A pilot study

The case study was conducted to examine the feasibility of an early intervention curriculum called Responsive Teaching with two five-year-old children from Turkey who had significant developmental delays. This study determined whether Turkish mothers might be successful in learning to become more responsive to their children, and whether this would result in significant improvements in their children’s development. Both dyads received 28 individual parent–child intervention sessions which were conducted over a four-month period of time. Pre-, mid-, and post-assessments indicated improvements in the mothers’ responsiveness to their children and the children’s levels of engagement with their parents. There were also improvements in the children’s language and personal social development. Mothers reported that Responsive Teaching helped them learn to interact more effectively with their children and that this resulted in longer and more enjoyable interactions with them. Results from this investigation are discussed in terms of their implications for providing developmental services to preschool-aged children with disabilities in Turkey.     

Motor skills, automaticity and developmental dyslexia: A review of the research literature

This paper reviews a body of prominent theoriesof automaticity in developmental dyslexia. Thefirst part of the review considers therelationship between dyslexia and rapidautomatic naming and fluency. Additionaltheoretical and empirical advances aresuggested to this already strong research base.In particular, there is a need is forexperimental work elucidating the nature ofnaming speed deficits and providing independentevidence of the automaticity of rapid naming.The second part of the review considersevidence for deficits in motor automaticity indyslexic children. Here, a more mixed patternof results is evident. It is concluded thatthere is currently clearer evidence forlanguage-based than motor-based automaticitydeficits. Future motor automaticity research islikely to require the routine screening of poorreaders for common co-occurring developmentaldifficulties, improved sampling and prospectivelongitudinal studies.     

The revised test of visual-motor integration: Its relation to the test of visual-motor integration and bender visual-motor gestalt test for regular education students

Comparisons were made among three tests of visual-motor integration: The Revised Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI-R), the Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI), and the Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test (BG). BG age equivalent scores were significantly higher than those obtained for either the VMI-R or VMI. Although the BG age scores were greater than the respective chronological age, such was not the case when CA was compared to either the VMI-R or VMI. The VMI-R yielded higher scores than did the VMI. Highly significant correlations were found among all variables.     

Effects of race and social class on preschool performance on the developmental test of visual-motor integration

The visual-motor integration of preschool children who varied in terms of race, sex, and socioeconomic status was assessed using the Beery-Buktenica Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI). An analysis of covariance revealed that there were significant main effects for race, sex, and socioeconomic status. Since, at the three- and four-year level, the VMI was normed only on white suburban children, the results of this study seemed to indicate the need for norms for black children at the preschool level. Thus, the second part of this paper reports normative data for black preschool children on the VMI.     

抽象形式的视知觉机制——完形心理学美学视域下的抽象艺术

以鲁道夫·阿恩海姆为代表的完形心理学美学为西方现代抽象艺术提供了重要的理论支持,它将视知觉依据完形倾向所组织起来的完形形式作为艺术的本质,而抽象艺术更直接地呈现出视知觉的深层结构,体现出现代艺术的进步性。康定斯基的艺术理论具有鲜明的完形美学特征,他认为抽象形式中的张力结构是艺术承载精神的根本所在,他在理论上的先知先觉印证了完形美学为现代艺术辩护的有力性与合法性。乔纳森·克拉里以"视觉考古学"的方法,指出完形心理学与抽象艺术的发展共享一套"视觉机制",从而以更广阔的社会文化视野弥补了完形美学理论的不足。     

Orthographic-Phonological Mapping and the Emergence of Visual Expertise for Print: A Developmental Event-Related Potential Study

The N1 effect is an electrophysiological marker of visual specialization for print. The phonological mapping hypothesis (Maurer & McCandliss, 2007) posits that the left-lateralized effect reflects grapheme-phoneme integration. In this event-related potential study, first (age = 7.06 years, N = 32) and third-grade readers (age = 9.29 years, N = 28) were presented with pairs of pseudowords and Armenian character strings in a novel implicit same-different paradigm. To test the phonological mapping hypothesis, stimuli were presented in visual-only and audiovisual conditions. The results demonstrated that tuning for print already emerges in first grade. Moreover, the parallel presentation of auditory stimuli enhanced the N1 effect suggesting a role of orthographic-phonological mapping in the development of specialization for print.     

Dyadic activities and attention in the infant: A developmental study

Infants’ abilities to focus attention on objects are known to be related to mothers’ mobilizing behaviors. As delayed effects of maternal behaviors at 5 months may be observed in 8-month-olds, mothers may be considered as scaffolding their infant’s attention. However, all dyadic activities are probably not equally propitious to attention mobilizing. In a sample of 30 dyads, studied at 5 and 8 months of age, whole observations were split in four broad categories: care, dyadic play with objects, dyadic play without objects and infant alone. The duration of maternal mobilizing and infant attention focussing were studied within categories. Inter-dyads variability is high, while dyads are stable across ages. Even within the dyadic play with objects, mothers differ widely in the duration and way they mobilize attention. Five-month-olds still need their mother’s support, as they explore less when they are alone, while 8-month-olds are more autonomous. The impact and importance of the various types of dyadic activities on cognitive development are discussed.     

对国外城镇化发展的思考

走城镇化道路是各国经济社会发展的普遍规律.在20世纪80年代初发达国家城镇化水平大多已达70%～80%,在这些国家城镇化发展的过程中,其发展规律、发展动力、发展轨迹等方面都体现出不同的特点,从而形成了各具特色的市场主导、自由放任、经济制约等模式,也得出了许多成功的经验和失败的教训,吸取和借鉴这些经验和教训,将有助于我国城镇化的发展找到一条更加适合国情的路径,从而推进我国城镇化的发展进程.