Revue internationale de psychologie scolaire et cognitive
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Differences in the Visual Motor Development in Children: A Cross-Cultural Study

Carlo A Pruneti and Chiara Cosentino

Since existing data on school frequently show disparity between indigenous and non-native students in academic achievement this research aims to face this problem monitoring objective and measurable differences between these groups in a cross cultural perspective. 177 children from different schools in Parma and La Spezia were recruited. The sample was divided into three subgroups: Italians; Italians with foreign parents; Immigrants. Children completed the performance test Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test. The “cultural context” seems to influence the results in the BVMGT. Results suggest that immigrants are grown in contexts culturally less stimulating visual-perceptual abilities and being unable to attend preschool and primary education in this country, may have affected their performance at the test. The comparison between Italians and Italians* is not significant: children born and grown in the same cultural context faced a similar training path. Regardless of intelligence or other individual characteristics, not all components of a multicultural classroom stem from the same level of skills and competencies. A simple test such as the Bender can become a useful predictive tool to identify gaps and differences between people from different cultures in order to create focused interventions