Purpose: To establish the age at which children can complete tests of spatial listening and to measure the normative relationship between age and performance. Method: Fifty-six normal-hearing children, ages 1.5-7.9 years, attempted tests of the ability to discriminate a sound source on the left from one on the right, to localize a source, to track…

This study examined changes in rhythmic arm shaking and laterality biases in infants observed longitudinally at three points: just prior to, at, and just following reduplicated babble onset. Infants (ranging in age from 4 to 9 months at babble onset) were videotaped at home as they played with two visually identical audible and silent rattles…

We investigated how different psychophysical procedures affect frequency discrimination performance in children. Four studies used a design in which listeners heard two tone pairs and had to identify whether the first or second pair contained a higher frequency target tone. Thresholds for 6-and 7-year-olds were higher than those for 8- and…

As a child matures from infancy to early childhood, a shift occurs in his sensory hierarchy from tactile to auditory to visual. The transition between the predominance of the auditory sense and visual sense takes place in about grades four and five. Although the sensory systems do not function singularly (but are integrated in the total action…

The main purpose of this investigation was to study the relationships between visual memory and early reading achievement. Short term and intermediate memory were examined in relation to vocabulary, reading comprehension, and reading readiness in first grade pupils. The Gates MacGinitie Readiness Skills Test; the Visual Memory for Designs Tests,…

Paper presented at the 48th Annual Conference of the American Occupational Therapy Association, Portland, Oregon, October 20-26, 1968. Research supported by U.S. Public Health Service Grant Number FR05357.

This study compiled a comprehensive early auditory processing skills assessment battery and evaluated the battery to toddlers with (n=8) and without (n=9) early recurrent otitis media. The assessment battery successfully distinguished between normal and deficient early auditory processing development in the subjects. The study also found parents…

Perception has become an important term in recent literature on reading problems and their solutions. However, the relationship between perception and reading has not been clarified. Tests of visual perception often focus on skills such as copying geometric designs which have little or nothing to do with reading skills or readiness. Researchers…

TO UNCOVER BASIC PERCEPTUAL AND PERSONALITY DIFFERENCES POSSIBLY RESPONSIBLE FOR DIFFERENCES IN READING ACHIEVEMENT, TWO STRATIFIED SAMPLES OF 60 ABOVE- AND BELOW-AVERAGE READERS WERE SELECTED FROM THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF 5,612 CHILDREN COMPLETING FIRST GRADE IN EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA. THE GROUPS WERE MATCHED ACCORDING TO SEX, SCHOOL, GROUP…

Test Battery was designed to explore the auditory and the visual perceptual processing abilities of children from five through eight. (Authors)

Morse code signals were presented dichotically to Morse code operators and to naive subjects with no knowledge of Morse code. The operators showed right ear superiority, indicating left hemisphere dominance for the perception of dichotically presented Morse code letters. Naive subjects showed the same right ear superiority when presented with a…

The battery of perceptual and perceptual-motor tests (including one fine and two gross perceptual-motor tasks, and one visual and two auditory perceptual tasks) were useful for prediction of cognitive performance one year later at kindergarten age. However, cognitive achievement in first grade, and even more so in second grade, was best predicted…

An evaluation of research in the area of perceptual training suggests procedures for teachers to follow until more definitive information is obtained. First, educators should build their programs on broadly-based but accurate classifications of perceptual skills. They should also be aware of the theoretical assumptions which influence perceptual…

Smith (1973), Stampe (1972), and Braine (1973) believe that by the time the child speaks his perception is well-developed, and that any discrepancy between child forms and adult forms are due to organizational and production difficulties. Other linguists believe immature perception determines the form of child speech. This paper suggests that…