The Relationship of Perceptual-Motor Development to Learning Readiness in Kindergarten

Abstract

In this paper an effort is made to bridge the gap between some of the more basic experimental research and theoretical concepts in cognitive psychology and information processing on the one hand and applied clinical research on the other hand. Prior studies have revealed significant linear relationships between independent visual functions and school readiness, however, the additive nature of perceptual-motor factors and their correlation with reading ability often has been neglected. Tests using tachistoscopic exposures with 2 digits at 0.1 sec. and 0.01 sec., the Divided Form Board, and the Grooved Pegboard, dominant and nondominant hand, all showed significant correlations with readiness in a population of 48 kindergarten children. The results of the Auditory-Visual Integration Test were not significant at the kindergarten level. To increase the strength of the relationship between perceptual-motor development and readiness, three factors were considered simultaneously in a multiple regression scheme: Tachistoscopic exposure of 2 digits at 0.01 seconds, Divided Form Board, and Grooved Pegboard, dominant hand. The resulting correlation supports the hypothesis that an individual whose perceptual skills are good is likely to have a high readiness score. The corresponding r2 confirmed that variations in perceptual skills explain more than 50% of the variations in learning readiness in this study.