Beery VMI Developmental Test of visual-motor integration Dayna Reilly

Purpose of the Test The main purpose of this test is to identify children who have significant difficulties integrating, or coordinating, their motor abilities and visual- perceptual abilities. It is believed that if identified early on, teaching methods and materials can be used to help prevent and remediate visual-motor problems. An assessment of eye-hand coordination, of how well a child (or adult) can copy developmentally sequenced geometric shapes

How to use this test The Beery VMI can be used by psychologists, learning disability specialists, schools counselors, teachers, and other professionals to help: Identify individuals who may be encountering difficulties in visual-motor integration Make appropriate referrals for needed services Test the effectiveness of educational and other interventions Conduct research Test is administered in no more than 20 minutes.

Population The Beery VMI remains strongly focused upon early childhood education. This test can be administered to individuals from age two through young adulthood and can also be used to test adults of all ages, particularly those who have been disabled by stroke, injury, or Alzheimer’s Disease.

Reliability The Beery VMI has shown to be very reliable through adequate consistency in these three areas: The Content of it’s items Individuals’ performance on the test when it is re- administered Scoring performed by different examiners`

Validity The Beery VMI can be considered as a valid measure because of its reliability. To prove its validity, The Beery VMI Handbook examines: How it is comparable with other assessment tools that measure visual-motor integration. The content enhances the test’s validity Predictive validity

Strengths Assesses the effectiveness of educational and other intervention programs Can be administered as either a group or individual assessment Serves as a Research tool If identified early, offers tons of resources to help children get to the level they need It is a culture-free, non-verbal assessment which is useful with individuals of diverse environmental, educational, and linguistic backgrounds. Such as: stepping stones parent checklist Beery vmi My Book of Shapes Beery VMI Developmental Teaching Activities Beery VMI Wall Chart for VMI Culture-free: sensitive to a number of medical and neurological problems as well as to academic difficultires such as handwriting. Long been recognized as internationally respected and recognized as the best-researched and most valid test of its kind

Limitations Appropriate for Ages 0-6 yrs old Child’s behavior can affect results No single test score is sufficient for making a diagnosis Children with physical limitations are less able to learn or perform Cautions: if a child’s behavior during testing causes an examiner to suspect visual acuity or other special problems, the child should be referred to a school nurse, or other specialist No single test score is sufficient for making a diagnosis or creating a treatment plan, team evaluation and planning is always best

How the test was normed The VMI was originally normed in 1964 on 1,030 Illinois children It was cross-validated in 1981 with 2,060 Californian children and again in 1989 with a national sample of 2, 734 children It also has been normed in other countries The VMI and its supplemental Visual and Motor tests were normed in 1995 and 2003 as well. Samples were selected from classes with representative ranges of learning abilities in eight states; a total of 23 childcare, preschool, public, and private schools participated. The Beery VMI was standardized on a national sample of 1, 737 individuals age 2 to 18 years (2010) and 1,021 adults age 19- 100 (2006) 1995 on 2,614 children, 3 to 18 years of age, living in the United States The Beery VMI and its supplemental Visual Perception and Motor Coordination tests were normed in 2003 on 2,512 children from 4 major regions of US

Author – Publisher - Date Keith E. Beery and Natasha A. Beery Published and Distributed Exclusively By NCS Pearson, Inc. 2004