A Survey of Visual Perceptual Disorders in Typically Developing Children, and Comparison of Motor and Motor-Free Visual Perceptual Training in Such Children

Background: Visual perception is the ability to interpret and use what is seen. Interpretation is a mental process involving cognition, which gives meaning to the visual stimulus. Any dysfunction in different components of visual perception may lead to problems in activities of daily living, academics etc. It has been proven that visual perceptual and visual motor skills are different abilities and that test of visual perception and visual-motor integration, measure different skills. Motor free visual perception test-revised (MVPT–R) has been established as a valid and reliable tool for measuring visual perception. Activities like meditation training, mental imagery, visual and tactile cues amongst others can help in improving visual perceptual skills. Objectives: To find the prevalence of visual perceptual deficits in typically developing children between 5-12 years of age and to compare the effects of motor and motor-free intervention for visual perceptual deficits. Methods: The study was done in two phases. Phase 1: SurveyThe purpose of phase 1 of the study was to find the prevalence of visual perceptual disorders in typically developing children. On a sample of 173 children, MVPT–R was applied and recorded results were analyzed with PASW (version 18.0). The phase 2 of the study (i.e. pre-test post-test experimental study) was done to compare the effects of motor and motor-free visual perceptual training. 30 children who had low scores in MVPT-R assessment. They were divided in 2 groups of 15 children each and received motor and motor-free visual perceptual training respectively for 30 minutes per session, thrice a week for 4 weeks. Results: The point prevalence was found to be 62.42%. All children showed improvement in visual perceptual skills, but no significant difference was found in motor and motor-free intervention groups even though the means showed a slightly better improvement in motor group. The right handed children performed significantly better than the left-handed children. Also, there was no significant difference in improvement between both the genders. Significant correlation was not found between any variable except ‘Perceptual quotient pre-test’ and ‘Perceptual quotient post-test’ in all groups. Conclusion: Prevalence of visual perceptual deficits is significant in typically developing children. Also, motor and motor-free visual perceptual trainings bring about similar improvements in visual perceptual skills.