title: Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI): An Effective Outcome Measure for Handwriting Interventions for Kindergarten, First-Grade, and Second-Grade Students?
abstract: We determined whether a widely used assessment of visual-motor skills, the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI), is appropriate for use as an outcome measure for handwriting interventions. A two-group pretest-posttest design was used with 207 kindergarten, first-grade, and second-grade students. Two well-established handwriting measures and the VMI were administered pre- and postintervention. The intervention group participated in the Size Matters Handwriting Program for 40 sessions, and the control group received standard instruction. Paired and independent-samples t tests were used to analyze group differences. The intervention group demonstrated significant improvements on the handwriting measures, with change scores having mostly large effect sizes. We found no significant difference in change scores on the VMI, t(202)=1.19, p=.23. Results of this study suggest that the VMI may not detect changes in handwriting related to occupational therapy intervention.
authors.affiliation: Beth Pfeiffer, PhD, OTR/L, BCP, is Associate Professor, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA; bpfeiffe@temple.edu.
authors.forename: Beth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pfeiffer
authors.affiliation: Beverly Moskowitz, DOT, MS, OTR/L, is President and Chief Executive Officer, Real OT Solutions, Villanova, PA.
authors.forename: Beverly
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Moskowitz
authors.affiliation: Andrew Paoletti, BSc, is Research Assistant, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Paoletti
authors.affiliation: Eugene Brusilovskiy, MUSA, is Statistician and Director, Laboratory on GIS Analytics in Rehabilitation Research, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.
authors.forename: Eugene
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Brusilovskiy
authors.affiliation: Sheryl Eckberg Zylstra, MS, OTR/L, is Occupational Therapist, Chehalis/Centralia Student Support Cooperative, Chehalis, WA.
authors.forename: Sheryl Eckberg
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Zylstra
authors.affiliation: Tammy Murray, DOT, MEd, OTR/L, is Adjunct Assistant Professor, Assumption College, Worcester, MA.
authors.forename: Tammy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Murray
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006236:Handwriting; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009788:Occupational Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011597:Psychomotor Performance