Visual motor skills in homeless children.
OBJECTIVE
Identify the visual motor, visual perceptual and motor coordination skills of homeless pre-school and school-aged children living in an emergency shelter for homeless families.


METHODS
All three subtests of the Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration-4th Edition, Revised (VMI) were administered to 33 children living in a family homeless shelter.


RESULTS
Homeless children did not display significant deficits in visual motor, visual perceptual or motor coordination skills. However, participants performed significantly better on the motor coordination subtest than on the visual motor and visual perceptual subtests.


CONCLUSIONS
Previous literature had identified visual motor deficits in pre-school homeless children. This finding was not supported in this investigation. The significant difference in performance on the various subtests suggests that these children may benefit from external structure for paper/pencil tasks. Implications for occupational therapy services are made with suggestions for further investigations.
Department of Occupational Therapy, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA, 95192-0059 winifred@email.sjsu.edu.
Winifred
W
Schultz-Krohn
Pamela K
PK
Richardson