Using Artificial Intelligence to Identify the Associations of Children’s Performance of Coloring, Origami, and Copying Activities With Visual–Motor Integration

Abstract

Abstract Importance: Performance of coloring, origami, and copying activities reflects children’s visual–motor integration (VMI), but the levels of association remain unclear. Objective: To use artificial intelligence (AI) to investigate associations of performance of coloring, origami, and copying activities with VMI. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Kindergartens. Participants: A sample of 370 children (182 boys and 188 girls) in the second and third years of kindergarten. Outcomes and Measures: Beery–Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual–Motor Integration, 6th Edition (VMI–6). Results: Data for preschool children from an ongoing project were retrieved. AI models were trained to use photographs of activity products to predict total score on the VMI–6. R2 values were used to identify the variance in VMI–6 standardized scores explained by predicted scores from the activities. That is, R2 values reflected associations between activity performance and VMI. The R2 values for the combination of origami and copying were the largest (.390–.577). These R2 values were larger than those for each individual activity (.340–.473) and similar to those for the combination of all three activities (.400–.550). Conclusions and Relevance: Because moderate R2 values were found between performance of the three activity products and VMI, the three activities have high potential for use in identifying children’s level of VMI or as teaching materials to facilitate the development of children’s VMI. Furthermore, combining origami and copying activities is recommended for teachers and clinicians who need to address VMI. What This Article Adds: A combination of origami and copying activities had the strongest associations with children’s VMI. Teachers and clinicians can use these two activities when addressing VMI development among preschool children.