The clinical and academic correlates of a perceptual training programme for Grade 1 children
Date
2014-08-18
Authors
Zimbler, Linda
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Abstract
A training programme aimed at the motor, perceptual,
conceptual and social "bases of learning was devised,
in order to determine whether administration of such a
programme could enhance these areas of functioning in
Grade I children. Two groups of children were chosen:
low socio-economic children and high socio-economic
children. The experimental and control groups comprised
two subgroups each: a high socio-economic sub-group and
a low socio-economic sub-group. The same battery of
tests assessing the motor, perceptual, conceptual and
social functioning of all the children was administered
before and after the training programme, which was run
for the experimental group only. The comparison of
before-after scores was achieved by means of analysis
of variance and analysis of covariance. The results
indicated that such a training programme could be
successfully administered by the Grade I teacher. The
results indicated further that all children subjected
to the training programme improved in the areas of
tactile discrimination, auditory discrimination, visualmotor
co-ordination, visual discrimination, language ;
development and verbal fluency and conceptual development.
When children of high socio-economic status Were compared
with those of low socio-economic status differences in
the quality and quantity of improvement emerged. On
school entry, the latter lagged behind the former in the
abovementioned areas, as well as in maturity level and
reading readiness. Those of low socio-economic standing
showed most sensitivity to training in the tactile
discrimination, visual-motor, language development and
verbal fluency, social maturity and reading readiness
areas. Although these children showed increased rates of
improvement in these areas when compared with their high
socio-economic counterparts, a ten-week programme was
insufficient to bridge the gap between the groups. In
view of this finding, it was suggested that the socio-economi
variable be more closely heeded in future diagnosis of
learning disability.