Bender’s visual-motor gestalt test: what does it consist of?

Bender’s visual-motor gestalt test is used to evaluate the development of children’s intelligence., as well as possible disabilities or organic brain disorders. It is based on the idea that by attending to the visuomotor gestalt function, processes such as perception, fine motor skills, memory, temporal and spatial concepts can be analyzed…

More than 65 years have passed since psychiatrist Lauretta Bender designed this test based on the theoretical principles of Gestalt.. Thus, and although this psychological approach is often criticized for its lack of clinical rigor, it should be noted that in this type of test we have an interesting exception.

This is a reliable and valid test that has a high correlation with other well-known tests such as the WISC. (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children). What’s more, studies such as the one carried out in 2016, by psychologist Cease Merino Soto, from the University of Lima, demonstrate their high levels of reliability.

In this instrument starts from the idea that visual perception depends on the degree of maturation of the central nervous system as well as the stimulation that the child receives. In this way, by assessing these dimensions, we can also appreciate such important aspects as language, memory, visual-motor coordination and even possible disorders such as autism. Let’s see more data below.

Bender’s visual-motor gestalt test, what is its purpose?

The Bender visual-motor gestalt test is a non-verbal clinical instrument that basically consists of ask the child to copy 9 figures on a blank piece of paper. You are presented with some reference cards and other blank ones where you must draw those visual patterns as precisely as possible.

It is also part of the premise that by the time they reach the age of 11, every child with normal maturational development will make an exact copy. The psychologist EM Koppitz was one of the people who delved most deeply into Bender’s visual-motor gestalt test. As he explained to us in his jobs, The processes that children carry out in this test are multiple. First, they must integrate the visual stimulation pattern, and then try to reproduce it. In the midst of this objective, the child’s brain must carry out multiple and precise tasks. These involve activating afferent and efferent sensory systems, you must integrate that figure, represent it mentally, remember it, reproduce it with your hand… In this way, and according to Dr. Koppitz, Up to five aspects can be assessed: learning maturity, reading problems, emotional difficulties, possible brain injury and mental deficiencies..

How is Bender’s visual-motor gestalt test applied?

The test is administered to children between 5 and 11 years old and can take between 15 and 30 minutes to complete. Likewise, in Bender’s visual-motor gestalt test, The psychologist offers the child 9 white cards with a black and white design that he must copy as accurately as possible..

The following instruction is usually given: “This is the first drawing for you to copy. Make one the same.”The child cannot rotate the cards. He must copy the drawing in the same position in which the card is given.The maximum time to make each copy is 5 minutes.

How is it evaluated?

Bender’s visual-motor gestalt test is evaluated following very specific guidelines that the psychologist EM Koppitz specified for us. They are the following.

Correction Categories

Each item will be valued between zero or one based on whether there are errors in the copy or whether the translation of the reference figure is considered to be exact. For this, these four categories are evaluated.

Shape distortion. It can be seen if there is a considerable disproportion in terms of shape, if one figure is larger than the other, if it is flattened, deformed, etc.Rotation. There are children who are unable to copy the same position of the original figure. Some move it with rotations of 45º or even more.Integration difficulties. In this case, it may happen that the child omits figures, points, sequences, etc.Perseveration. From the age of 5, the ability to persevere appears in human beings. In this case, and in Bender’s visuomotor gestalt test, we can see it in his effort or sloppiness when copying spiral figures, where both rotations and planes must be attended to.

Emotional and individual aspects

In this test, like any other aimed at measuring the level of maturation of children, different details regarding execution are taken into account. The first is that each child has their own maturation pattern. The times, processes and those milestones where achieving a series of specific competencies are different for each child.

This is also taken into account in the Bender test. Nevertheless, Lauretta Bender carried out in-depth research to create an evolutionary table to summarize the ability to reproduce the test figures in each age group. Thus, these are the ones that are taken as a reference today and which continue to be reliable.

On the other hand, and no less interesting, EM Koppitz pointed out that emotional aspects can also be measured with this test. Details such as observing how some children choose to replace the drawings of wavy lines with stripes or how they choose to draw large figures would reflect a certain impulsivity or other problems that would deserve a complete evaluation.

We are therefore faced with an instrument that is still valid, that is useful and that can give us interesting data.

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