An experimental test battery was developed to measure the visual-perceptual development of normal and neurologically impaired children of elementary school age. The test battery was administered to 4 groups of 12 Ss, ranging from normal to impaired. The battery was sensitive and information processing ability, in terms of channel capacity, decreased as a function of impairment and early age.Visual perception is one of the three primary psychological functions in the growth and development of young children. By being able to interpret sense data, the young child is able to make successful discriminations and comparisons. Unfortunately, a growing number of children deviate from the general developmental pattern. Manifestations appear as slow learners, problem children, and eventually as school dropouts. Frostig, et al. (1961Frostig, et al. ( , 1963 have found a high degree of interdependence between visual-perceptual disturbances and learning and behavior difficulties.Preliminary research in visual perception by Wise (1968) illustrated that the use of color ambiguities in conjuncdon with information processing as structured by Miller (1956) and the psychometrics of form described by Michels and Zusne (1965) could be used to assess the visual-perceptual channel capacity of normal adults. Based on this research, a visual-perceptual battery was developed for use with children in early and middle childhood. It was hypothesized that children with normal visual-perceptual development would approach maximum channel capacity approximating that of the normal adult, whereas children manifesting less than typical development for their age groups would reach saturation (point of estimating) more rapidly.Method.-The test battery of 25 slides (35 mm) was presented to Ss by means of a constant illumination tachistoscope set at 40 msec. Parameters included were (1) transitive form, ( 2 ) transpositional form, ( 3 ) intransitive form, ( 4 ) absence of color, and ( 5 ) non-characteristic color. Geometric shapes of 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 sides were used as the stimulus objects for each parameter.Four dissimilar groups of Ss were used. The reference or control group Ss were 12 normal (teacher-determined) first, second, and third graders drawn from two different elementary schools. Eight boys and four girls, whose median age was 7 yr. 11 mo., served as the controls. Group 1 was comprised of 12 Ss (8 boys, 4 girls) drawn from the same schools and grades, except they were certified by their teachers as having scholastic adjusunent difficulties. Their median age was 7 yr. 10 mo. Group 2 consisted of 12 Ss ( 6 boys, 6 girls) drawn from the kindergarten class at the Child Study Center of Old Dominion University. These Ss were normal (teacher-determined) preschoolers whose median age was 6 yr. 2 mo. Ss for Group 3 were drawn from a private rehabilitation center and consisted of 12 boys who had been medically assessed as suffering from some minor neurological or psychological malfunction. Their median age was 9 yr. 5 mo. Ocular adequacy of eac...
