[Evaluation of visual-motor integration functions in children between 6-15 years of age].

OBJECTIVE Visual-motor integration skills are considered an essential domain of clinical and psycho-educational assessment. The goal of the present investigation is to provide the Turkish norms for the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Visual-Motor Integration Test (VMI-4th) for children and adolescents between the ages of 6-15 years as part of a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery. METHOD A total of 1887 children from elementary and high schools in the city of Bursa were recruited for this study. From this sample 44 children were re-tested 3-4 weeks following the first administration for test-retest reliability. RESULTS Findings showed clear developmental trajectories in visual-motor integration skills. Significant performance increments were observed in six month intervals for ages 6 and 7. Starting from age 8, norms were established for each age group separately. Girls and boys performed similarly on the VMI-4. Test- retest correlation was modest but within an acceptable range. CONCLUSION The age-based norms established for the VMI-4 in this study can be used to assess children between the ages of 6-15 years as part of a clinical neuropsychological and a psycho-educational assessment. The mean VMI scores presented in this study represent performance of children in middle and middle-upper socio-economic status and may not represent the normal performance range of children from lower SES.