Developing Bilateral and Spatial Concepts in Primary School-aged Children: An Empirical Evaluation of the Anker Bilateral Spatial System

Abstract

Background: Visual-spatial and visual-motor perceptual difficulties contribute to school-aged learning problems. Hence, a need exists to address children's visual-spatial and visual-motor perceptual difficulties as early as possible in the child's school career. Thus, this study reports on the evaluation of the Anker Bilateral Spatial System's (ABSS) effectiveness in remediating primary school children's perceptual difficulties. Method: Thirty-one children (17 boys and 14 girls) aged 6 to 12 years who had been identified by their classroom teacher as having observable visual-spatial and visual-motor perceptual difficulties participated in a 10-week pre/posttest intervention study. The study's pre/posttest assessments included the Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI), the Spatial Awareness Skills Program Test (SASP), and two subscales of the School Function Assessment (SFA). Results: Paired t-test statistics were calculated on the pre/post intervention scores. Paired t-test statistics calculated (p = .05) that significant change had occurred in the writing speed (t = -3.978, p < .001). Conclusion: Given that the study's Year 1 students made progress in more areas of remediation than did any other year level, it is evident that the ABSS is particularly effective with this year group. Comments Dr. Janet Richmond is currently a lecturer at Edith Cowan University in occupational therapy in the School of Exercise and Health Sciences. Dr. Richmond's research interests are visual-perceptual development, intervention and remediation in children and adults, attention and cognitive disorders, and aging and disability. She has published two book chapters and additional articles related to her areas of research. Dr. Myra Taylor is a seasoned Research Fellow currently working in Edith Cowan University's Lifespan Resilience Research Group in the School of Psychology and Social Science. Dr. Taylor's research interests include infant and child development; child and adolescent attentional, emotional, behavioral, and learning disorders; family resilience; antisociality; adolescent and youth street violence; and criminal offending. She has published a number of books, book chapters, and articles in these and related areas. Ms. Sarah Evans is an occupational therapist who has been working in pediatrics for seven years. She works mostly with primary school children and is passionate about helping each child reach their potential. Ms. Evans understands the importance of evidence-based practice and fervently supports research that may benefit her clients. Keywords Spatial concepts, bilateral integration, writing, children, learning Cover Page Footnote The authors would like to thank Step One Occupational Therapy for Children for their logistical support and for the therapists' time in providing the therapy program and completing the assessments. We also thank the parents and children for their participation in this program. We further thank and acknowledge for the hours of work in producing the ABSS Mr. Johann Anker, whose dedication to assisting people with bilateral, spatial, and perceptual difficulties culminated in the production of the ABSS. This research was supported by a Faculty Early Career Researchers Grant from Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia. During this study, the authors had no gain or interest in the ABSS; however, after completing the study, the ABSS was gifted to the first author for further ongoing development and commercialization.