The effect of visual-motor integration education program on children's visual perception skills

This research was conducted to examine the effect of visual-motor integration education program on children's visual perception skills. Intervention design, one of the mixed method designs in which quantitative and qualitative research methods are used together, was used in the study. In addition to pretest-posttest matched control group quasi-experimental design, observation and interviews were also conducted in the present study. Two separate study groups were used in the quantitative phase of the study. Within the scope of the research, "Early Childhood Visual Perception Test (EC-VPT) was developed, and validity-reliability of the test was conducted. The study group consisted of 620 children aged between 45-76 months, attending public kindergartens/nursery classes located in Altındağ, Çankaya, Keçiören, Sincan and Yenimahalle districts of Ankara. The study group in the quasi-experimental design of the research consisted of a total of 36 children aged 48-72 months old who attend public kindergartens in the city center of Muş, 19 of them were in the experimental group and 17 of them were in the control group. "Visual-Motor Integration Education Program" was implemented with the children in the experimental group three days a week for two months. The study group of the qualitative dimension of the research consisted of the parents and teacher of the children in the experimental group. "Personal Information Form" was used to collect personal information of children and parents, and "Early Childhood Visual Perception Test (EC-VPT)" was used to evaluate children's visual perception skills. Within the scope of the validity studies of the "Early Childhood Visual Perception Test (EC-VPT)", the content validity rate and content validity index were calculated based on expert opinion. For construct validity, item analysis and factor analysis (Parallel Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis) were performed. Within the scope of the reliability studies of the test, Average Item Difficulty (pij), Average Point Biserial Correlation coefficient, McDonald's (ω) Reliability coefficient, Standardized Cronbach's Alpha Reliability coefficient and Test-Retest Reliability were calculated. As a result of the validity-reliability studies, it has been revealed that the "Early Childhood Visual Perception Test (EC-VPT)" is a valid and reliable assessment tool. For collecting the qualitative data, semi-structured interview forms consisting of "Teacher Interview Form" and "Parent Interview Form" were prepared to get the opinions of teachers and parents, and "Teacher Observation Form" was also used to observe the implementation process of the teacher. The quantitative data were analyzed by using the parametric tests of Paired Samples t-test, Independent Samples t-test and ANOVA tests via SPSS statistical software. The qualitative data of the research were analyzed according to the inductive content analysis approach by using the NVivo qualitative data analysis program. As a result of the research, it was investigated that there was a significant difference in favor of the experimental group in the posttest average scores of the experimental and control groups concerning visual perception skills, which were applied immediately after the application of the "Visual-Motor Integration Education Program" to the experimental group (p<0.05). When the pretest and posttest mean scores of the children in the experimental group were compared, there was a significant difference in favor of the posttest (p0.05), while there was no significant difference between the pretest and posttest mean scores of the children in the control group (p>0.05). It was observed that there was a significant difference between pretest, posttest and follow-up test scores of the children in the experimental group concerning the visual perception skills (p<0.05). Based on these findings, it can be said that the "Visual-Motor Integration Education Program" is effective on children's visual perception skills and that the effect of the program continues in the three-week period in time-based measurements. The administered interviews with the parents and teachers of the children in the experimental group revealed that "Visual-Motor Integration Education Program" supported the acquisition of many other skills in addition to visual perception skills in children and contributed to their holistic development. Based on these results, it can be said that the quantitative findings obtained from the research coincide with the qualitative findings.