The Bender-Gestalt test: Koppitz's Developmental Scoring System administered to two samples of Italian preschool and primary school children

The purpose of this paper was to extend research on Koppitz's Developmental Scoring System to Italian samples. Specific attention has been given to the study of errors for the single designs to assess the relationship of these errors with total errors and to assess the designs' varying difficulty. A second purpose was to study possible cultural influences between different Italian regions. According to Koppitz (1975) research findings support that the rate of development in visuomotor perception differs among children of various ethnic groups. Subjects were 538 boys and 527 girls enrolled in the regular kindergarten and elementary schools in Italy. Detailed analyses were carried out on total mean errors and mean errors for each design. Mean errors decrease across age groups; that is, perceptuomotor integration is improved for older children. No significant differences were found between Northern and Southern Italy.