The Development of Visual-motor Integration, Visual Perception and Motor Coordination in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children

Abstract

The development of visual-motor integration starts at an early age through the coordination of visual and motor system. With age, as child acquires and develops certain skills, the integration of these systems changes, too. Examining the effect of age on development of visual perception, motor coordination and visual-motor integrationin deaf and hard of hearing children is the aim of this research.The sample covers 40 deaf and hard of hearing children belonging to both sexes (22 boys, or 55%, and 18 girls, or 45%). The respondents, aged from 4 to 7, were divided into three groups. Respondents in the first group were aged 4y – 4y11m (13 or 32.5%), in the second 5y – 5y11m (18 or 45%) and in the third 6y – 6y11m (19 or 22.5%). All the children were with average intellectual capacities, without additional sensory and motor disturbances and disorders and included in the program of early audiologic rehabilitation. In the research we used the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration, the Test of Visual Perception and the Test of Motor Coordination, and in interpretation of the results we used standard scores. The greatest average number of points was achieved in the Test of Visual Perception (97.23), then in the Test of Motor Coordination (90.90) and in the last place was the Test of Visual-Motor Integration (85.93). Student achievements in all the three tests grow as they are older, but only in the Test of Visual Perception that difference is statistically relevant (F=25.316; p=0.001). The results of the research confirmed the influence of the age on the development of visual perception, but not on the development of motor coordination and visual-motor integration, which indicates the existence of a specificity in the development of these skills in deaf and hard of hearing children. The development of these skills should be monitored in order to timely detect a possible interference that can in a later age affect the performance in academic and social skills.