A Test Battery to Assess Intrasensory and Intersensory Development of Young Children

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to develop a battery of tests for use in evaluation of intra- and intersensory development of young childten. A battery of 15 tests (4 visual, 4 auditory, 4 tactile-kinesthetic, and 3 intersensory) was administeted to 109 normally developing 6- and 8-year-old and 32 slowly developing or learning disabled children. Interdependence of test items within each inttasensory and the intersensory category was determined; intercorrelations ranged from .00 to .78. Reliability estimates were also determined. Face validity was claimed for each item. The effects of age or developmental level on test performance were also established. Based upon the interdependence of the tests, reliability estimates, and the capacity of the tests to discriminate among groups classified according to age or developmental level, a battery of 10 intra- and intersensory tests was proposed. The battery has 3 tests of visual perception—visual memory, dynamic depth perception, and size discrimination; 3 tests of auditory perception—auditory discrimination, auditory memory of related syllables, and auditory sequential memory of numbers; 2 tests of tactile-kinesthetic perception—tactile integration and movement awareness; and 2 tests of intersensory integration—auditory-tactile integration and auditory-visual integration.