INTERRELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN VISUAL-MOTOR INTEGRATION, VISUAL PERCEPTION, MOTOR COORDINATION AND OBJECT CONTROL SKILLS OF GRADE 1-LEARNERS: NW-CHILD STUDY

The aim of this study was to determine the interrelationship of visual-motor integration, visual perception and motor coordination with object control skills in Grade 1-learners in the North-West Province of South Africa. This study is based on only the baseline data of a longitudinal study (NW-CHILD study) in progress. The Grade 1-learners (N=806) had a mean age of 6.84 +/- 0.39 years. The Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (4th ed) (VAT!), was used to evaluate visual skills, while the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 evaluated six object control skills. There was a statistical significant (p <= 0.01) association between VMI, two object control skills and total score for object control skills. Visual perception had the highest correlation with all the object control skills where a statistically significant (p <= 0.05) association with five object control skills and the total score was obtained Motor coordination had small but significant correlations with two object control skills. Understanding the influence that VMI, visual perception and motor coordination have on ball handling skills should enable practitioners to address them appropriately during the early years.