Structure and Predictive Validity of the Frostig Developmental Test of Visual Perception in Grades One and Three
of the Frostig Developmental Test of Visual Perception in Grades One and Three ARTHUR V. OLSON, Ed.D. CLIFFORD 1. JOHNSON, Ed.D. Georgia State University In 1958, Marianne Frostig produced a developmental test of visual perception that has since been revised and standardized. This test, based on her clinical observations and the works of Thurstone (1944), Wedell (1960), and Cruickshank (1957), designated five abilities, which were presumed to be developmentally mutually exclusive. She did not assume that the five abilities were the only ones involved in visual perception, but only that there was a specific relationship between these abilities and the student's ability to learn and adjust. The five abilities identified were: (1) eye-motor co' ordination, (2) figure-ground, (3) form constancy, (4) position in space, and (5) spatial relations. The purposes of the present study were to determine if the Frostig Developmental Test of Visual Perception (FDTVP) measures several different perceptual abilities, and to determine how well the instrument predicts reading achievement from first to third grade. METHOD Subjects The subjects (N=148) were drawn from three elementary schools in a city of approximately 50,000 people in the southeastern part of the United States. The three schools were selected to give an economic cross-section of the community. When the study was begun, the population consisted of 218 first grade children. The mean chronological age for this population was six years and three months, with a standard deviation of seven months. As measured by the WISC, the mean Verbal IQ was 92.44, s.d. 17.18, and the Performance I Q was 97.44, s.d. 16.92. The subjects for the third grade part of the study (N=148) are a lesser nurn-