Effect of pairing scanning training with block design training in the remediation of perceptual problems in left hemiplegics

Abstract

Twenty-seven left hemiplegics were divided into three groups of nine, matched for age, education, degree of left neglect, and time since onset of stroke. Subjects were pretested and, following the training, posttested on the WAIS Performance subtests, the WRAT Reading subtest, a letter cancellation task, an address-copying task, and a face-counting task. Subjects received 1 hour of occupational therapy (OT) each day for 20 successive days as follows: Group I received 1 hour of routine OT; Group II received 20 minutes of routine OT, 20 minutes of cancellation training, and 20 minutes of visual scanning training; Group III received 20 minutes of block design training, 20 minutes of cancellation training, and 20 minutes of visual scanning training. Groups II and III improved on measures of visual scanning, reading, and writing to a significantly greater extent than did Group I, and Group III improved to a significantly greater extent than did Group II. Few differences among the groups were seen on measures of psychometric intelligence and face counting. The results, for the most part, supported previous findings and, furthermore, indicated that block design training enhances the effect of visual scanning training techniques in the remediation of perceptual problems in left hemiplegics.