Limitations of Sensory-motor Screening for Reading Problems in the First Grade

Authors

  • Scott W. Sautter
  • Jeffrey T. Barth

Abstract

This study investigated the effectiveness of neuropsychological screening techniques and allied procedures in discriminating below average and above average readers. The criterion variable was reading skills in fifty mid-year fIrst graders detennined byratings from regular classroom teachers and a reading specialist. The predictor variables were: Vocabulary and Block Design subtests from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised, Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration,  and the Reitan-Klove Sensory-Perceptual Examination. The results indicated that language tests were more successful in classifying reading skills than were sensory-motor and perceptual procedures, providing converging evidence of the importance of auditory processes in learning to read. Clear cut asymmetrical hemispheric specializations, derived from the neuropsychological screening measures suggestedin the literature, were notforthcoming. The discussion relates these fmdings to the limitations of sensory-motor and perceptual screening for reading problems, while affmning the prominent role of language skills.

Issue

Section

Articles