| Summary: | A research report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Occupational Therapy.
Johannesburg,
2016 === The majority of South African children attend a Grade R year to prepare them for formal education in the Foundation Phase. Literacy and numeracy levels are low in disadvantaged schools and socio-economic status affects the development of important visual perceptual skills which are required for reading, mathematics and writing. Current Grade R curriculum and teacher training do not address visual perceptual skills adequately and research has shown that the Grade R year is not preparing children for Grade 1 demands. Occupational therapists are trained in visual perceptual development and to date their role in the current education crisis remains extremely limited. A pretest posttest study was conducted using the Test of Visual Perceptual Skills – 3rd Edition (TVPS 3) as a measurement tool. A low cost Visual Perceptual Skills Programme (VPSP) was designed by the researcher to develop these visual perceptual skills in a disadvantaged school. The school was selected using purposive sampling and results were analysed using effect size (ES). A 15 week programme was carried out in a Grade R class and the intervention group completed daily eye movement and perceptual activities over two consecutive school terms, in addition to the normal curriculum. The control group, a Grade R class at the same school did not participate in the VPSP. Results show a moderate effect on the overall visual perceptual skills in the intervention group, indicating the programme is useful in addressing visual perceptual skills. The posttest scores reveal that despite this improvement, children in the intervention group remain in the at-risk-of-dysfunction range for visual perceptual skills. Access to visual perceptual programmes and the availability of occupational therapists to consult with teachers administering the programmes remains limited. It is therefore recommended that visual perceptual activities should be incorporated into the Grade R curriculum and be a focus in the classroom. === MT2017
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