Behavioral characteristics of visually perceptually handicapped and non-handicapped kindergarteners

Abstract

PROCEDUREI n order to test Frostig's hypothesis of the relationship between perceptual quotient and classroom adjustment,'a form was devised listing 19 items of behavior. Nine of them were specific characteristics usually found in descriptions of well-adjusted children. Ten were those often mentioned in descriptions of poorly adjusted kindergarteners. Plus and minus items were inteIspersed. The statements are listed in Table 1 in the same order in which they were originally presented.Teachers were asked to write next, to each child's name all of the numbers from the list of characteristics that applied t o that child. Teachers submitted the rating forms to the researcher before scores on the Frostig test were released.Each child was given the Marianne Frostig Developmental Test of Visual jPerception (Frostig, Lefever, & Whittlese 1961). All tests were administered by trained school psychologists, to small groups of children. & accordance with Frostig's classification, those with a P. (2. (Perceptual Quotient) of 90 or below were considered perceptually handicapped. In her standsudixation, 90 is the 25th percentile.The present study was done in the Livermore School District, Livermore, California. The entire kindergarten population (26 classes, 802 children) was included. Frostig scores and teacher ratings were available for 777 children. Of this total, 117 scored.90 or below.The hypothesis tested was that there is a relationship between classroom adjustment as measured by teachers' ratings of behavioral characteristics, and perceptual quotient scores on the Frostig test.The hypothesis would be accepted or rejected on the basis of an analysis o l enumeration data, using a chi-square statistic to test for independence in a 2 x 2 table (Walker & Lev, 1953, p. 101). The hypothesis was applied to each behavioral characteristic separately.Data processing was done at the Stanford University Computation Center, using the B-5500 Computer. Table 1 lists the descriptive statements, the per cent of children with a perceptual quotient of 90 or below who were checked as having the characteristics described in the statements, the same for children with P. Q. above 90, and the chi-square values. RESULTSChi-square values for one degree of freedom for significance levels of .95, .99, and .999 are respectively 3.8, 6.6, and 10.8. The hypothesis can be accepted for each of the 19 statements, at a level of significance of .95 or better.It is interesting to note that teachers checked fewer of the negative statements for both groups of children, than the positive ones, but the differences still show up. For example, Statement 6, "Shows frequent frustration by such signs as fighting, giving up easily, attempting to destroy projects," would generally be considered a negative attribute. Twenty-eight per cent of the perceptuallly handicapped children were rated as having this characteristic while 10% of the non-handicapped group were so checked. But on a positive attribute, Statement 8, "Is cheerful majority of the time," while 59% of the ...