Visual motor skills and reading fluency: a correlational study

Abstract

According to Van Hoorn, reading and writing skills involve adequate performance in visual–motor coordination, motor planning, cognitive and perceptual skills, and accurate processing of tactile and kinesthetic information. Scientific instruments aimed at assessing visual motor integration can be used for early identification of difficulties in reading and writing skills. The Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI), in particular, allows to assess the level of development of skills such as perception, mental representation, motor planning and graphic reproduction. With regard to fluency of reading, the measure that best describes reading skills required in the various life contexts is given, according to Cornoldi, by the evaluation of the speed and accuracy of reading. The “Prove di Lettura MT2” (MT-2 Reading Test) are the most popular instrument, for the Italian language, which assesses reading literacy in terms of fluency (speed and accuracy). This paper proposes a correlational study between the results obtained by administering MT2 and VMI tests to a group of students from a lower secondary school, in order to experimentally attest the opportunity to use the VMI as a tool for early detection of visuo-spatial related difficulties in learning to read.