A normative study of six and seven year old Maltese children

Abstract

In this study, the sample consisted of 181 boys and 141 girls from year 2. Their ages varied between 6:01 years and 7:11 years (mean age 6:08 years). The tests which were carried out on these pupils consisted of measuring each child's standing height, his visual acuity level; his skill at catching balls and at copying geometrical shapes. A further part of the study consisted of checking to see whether a child was a nail biter and to what extent; and also checking his hand preference in writing and throwing activities. Statistical tests of significance were also carried out to find out whether sex, age and locality differences in the various tests were significant or not. Analysis of the visual acuity test data yielded the information that the picture version of the Swellen Test was not valid.