Visual perceptual abilities and intelligence in mental retardates

Abstract

PROBLEMAlthough current intelligence tests such as the Revised Stanford Binet(') and the Wechsler scales(6) contain items tapping perceptual proc~88es, the relationship between perceptual functioning and intellectual efficienc still has not been definitively established. 8actor analytic studies(*-8 , 6 ) have found consistent1 that perceptual skills separate out as distinctL different from a general intellectual factor. This h u e is particularly important in relation to the education of mental retardates where the child with perceptual disturbances is handicapped in his ability to read, to compute and to maintain prolonged attention in the classroom. This stud investi ates the contribution of perce tual skilc to inteiectual functioning in a retar& population b cornparin4 scores on the Frostig Develop menta7 Test of Visual Perception(') with WISC results.METHOD Sixty-five educable retardates attending public school s ecial education classes were administered t ! e Frostig Test and the WISC. The Frostig test measures the followin five aspects of visual perceptual development: f) hand-e e coordination; 11) form constancy; 1111 igureground perception; IV) osition in space; and V) spatial relationships. T ! e total score is reflected as a perceptual quotient (PQ).Of the 65 retardates, the 20 obtaining high PQ scorn (good erformance) comprised the high perceiver ( H 4 group showin no marked impairments in the perce tual sdls tap ed by this teat. A second group of20 children wlo obtained low PQ scores (poor performance) constitute the low perceiver (LP) group, demonstrating marked defects in one or more areas of visual perceptual functioning. Table 1 presents the means, standard deviations, and the significance of the differences between the two groups' Fraqtig Test PQs, WISC verbal, performance and full scale IQs. RESULTS A N D DISCUSSIONThe division on the ba+s of perceptual skills clearly separates the Ss mto two bands of intellectual functioning. The H P group achieved borderline intelligence while the LPe obtained a mean WISC full scale I of 65.1, lacing them achieved &her scale scores on each of t\e 11 WISC subtests than the latter.' The greateat disparity in level of functioning was on the five performance subtests in which the HP children are significantly more proficient than the LP group. Comprehension and Vocabulary, of the six verbal subtests, most clearly differentiate between the two groups. The HP grou is consistently superior to LP children in vergal skills.These data indicate that the retarded child with apparently intact visual perceptual abilities is generally more efficient than the retarded child with impaired rceptual development as measured by the &C performance subtests. The H P group superiority appears to result from the more meanin ul Organization of the environfrom irrelevant faceta of the perceptual world. SUMMARY This study compared the performance of 65

Frostig Visual Perceptual Training with Low-Ability-Level Retarded

“…Haupt, and Jones (1965) report a high positive correlation between perceptual quotient as measured by the Developmental Test of Visual Perception (Marlow, Frostig, Lefever, & Whittlesey, 1964) and IQ scores on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children for a group of educable retardates. In an applied study, Allen, Dickman, and Haupt (1966) report immediate discernible improvement in three testable visual areas following brief perceptual training of educable retardates using the Frostig-Horne (1964) program.…”