A Pilot Study of Visual-Motor Developmental Inter-Test Reliability: The Beery Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration and the Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test

Abstract

Visual motor performance is a significant contributing factor to a child's academic performance (Beery 1967a, Getman 1961). Because of the need for accurate and specific diagnostic techniques, the professionals in the fields of pediatric and developmental optometry, learning disabilities, and education must constantly evaluate the diagnostic instruments they use. The Beery Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration (VMI) and the Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test (BGT) are copy form instruments clinically employed to measure the degree to which visual perception and motor behavior are integrated in the child and to determine a child's level of visual motor development and maturity. Th VMI and the BGT are similar in the areas of protocol, stimulus design, and in the developmental scoring systems and criteria each employs. The purpose of this study was to determine the inter-test reliability of the VMI and the BGT, so as to avoid a possibility of testing redundancy when both diagnostic instruments are used conjunctively in a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation of a child's level of visual motor performance.