What Preschool Classroom Experiences Are Associated With Whether Children Improve in Visuomotor Integration?

Abstract

Research Findings: This study examined the contribution of several classroom experience measures (classroom characteristics, teacher characteristics, and teacher-child interactions) to preschoolers' improvement in visuomotor integration. Children (N = 467) ranged in age from 3 to 5 years old and were enrolled in 115 classrooms in 5 U.S. states. Children's visuomotor integration was measured twice (on average 5.2 months apart) using the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (visuomotor integration subtest). Hierarchical linear models controlling for background characteristics and inhibitory control showed that children improved more in visuomotor integration when they were in classrooms with fewer 3-year-olds, when their teacher had at least a bachelor's degree, and when teachers demonstrated high quality in their interactions. Practice or Policy: Visuomotor integration, and specifically the ability to copy designs with a writing utensil, is a robust indicator of children's school readiness and longitudinal achievement. U.S. preschoolers gained more on visuomotor integration in classrooms with fewer 3-year-old children that were taught by a college-educated teacher and when such classrooms provided high-quality organizational and instructional interactions. These results expand the outcomes linked to early childhood education experiences and emphasize the need for wellprepared early childhood teachers who interact with children effectively.

The Relationship of Motor Coordination, Visual Perception, and Executive Function to the Development of 4–6-Year-Old Chinese Preschoolers’ Visual Motor Integration Skills

“…Thus the development of the VMI among children in primary school would be explored especially those during the transition from kindergarten to primary school period. Secondly, the present study just explored some factors related to the VMI development and other factors would be studied later, for instance, the culture difference, the classroom experience, and teacher-child interaction [ 35 ].…”

An after-school intervention targeting executive function and visuospatial skills also improves classroom behavior

“…Careful attention to training and implementation were possible in the context of this small-scale effort. Other work suggests VS skill gains are bolstered by high-quality instruction and highly trained teachers (Byers, Cameron, Ko, LoCasale-Crouch, & Grissmer, 2016). Any large-scale intervention replication would likely experience greater variation in training and implementation quality, and thus measurement of treatment fidelity would be critical to understanding impact differences within the treatment group.…”

Association between motor and math skills in preschool children with typical development: Systematic review

“…However, it is important to note that in the same action it is complex to unequivocally differentiate the involvement of each of the motor skills (GMS and FMS), as they coexist and are fundamental for the efficient performance of the task, as both are related and influence each other ( Payne and Isaacs, 2012 ; Flatters et al, 2014b ). In this sense, GMS are influenced and influence FMS, the first being also a good predictor of children’s school learning ( Sortor and Kulp, 2003 ; Beery and Beery, 2006 ; Henderson et al, 2007 ; Spanaki et al, 2008 ; Kambas et al, 2010 ; Kadkol et al, 2014 ; Byers et al, 2016 ; Africa and Deventer, 2017 ; Bellocchi et al, 2017 ).…”