The psychomotor examination of the child

Communication by Mr Waeyaert (Antwerp Centre, Belgium) presented on Friday 11 May 1972 at the 2nd International Congress of Audio-Psycho-Phonology in Paris. Elaborated within the Antwerp team under the impetus of Dr Spirig — described by the author as the “true locomotive” of the Centre — this paper presents, in a remarkably clear technical language, the psychomotor examination as it is practised with the children received: dyslexics, stammerers, character-disordered children, as well as the mildly, moderately and severely mentally deficient. The methodology articulates a psycho-motor profile in eight sections (coordinations, balance, speed, spatial orientation, visual perception, body schema, temporo-spatial structuring), complementary tests (laterality, syncinesias, relaxation, breathing, tactile perceptions, auditory gnosis, rhythm) and a mobility profile in thirteen criteria. The final synthesis clearly distinguishes the profiles of the two great groups received and brings out — as Dr Sidlauskas confirms in chairing the debate that follows — the convergence between the observed psychomotor difficulties and the auditory disorders identified according to Prof. Tomatis’s theories. The discussion gathers Dr Sidlauskas, Prof. Tomatis (long development on breathing, syncinesias and the body image) and Mr Dubard.

The psychomotor examination of the child

by Mr Waeyaert
Centre d’Audio-Psycho-Phonologie of Antwerp (Belgium)

2nd International Congress of Audio-Psycho-Phonology — Paris, 11-14 May 1972.

Introduction

Before embarking on the paper proper, I should like to take the opportunity to thank warmly Dr Spirig, the true locomotive of our Centre, who has enabled me, through his encouragement and support, to bring this long-term work to completion, and who has never spared either his time or his advice. It is within the framework of the Antwerp Centre, and thanks to the trust he placed in me, that I have been able to develop and systematise the psychomotor examination as I shall present it to you.

A few general remarks

1. The psychomotor examination we practise applies as much to normal children as to children presenting disorders: we carry it out on all the children received at the Centre — dyslexics, stammerers, character-disordered on the one hand; the mentally deficient (mild, moderate and severe) on the other.

2. This examination is not limited to measuring psychomotor age; it aims to establish a true profile of the child, which informs us as much on his neuro-motor maturation as on his way of approaching and living in the world.

3. We combine standardised tests (which give us an age) and observation tests, which do not lend themselves to classification by age but have proved indispensable.

4. The child is observed individually and in a group situation (notably in play) — the bringing together of these two observations is essential.

5. All our results are reported on a single graph, which allows us to give the therapist, the parent or the doctor an immediately legible overview.

Principle of the examination and classification of the tests

The principle we follow consists in examining successively the various psychomotor functions, from the most elementary to the most complex. We have drawn from the existing batteries the tests that meet our clinical requirements:

Ozeretsky-Guilmain test;
Gesell scale and C. Buhler tests (Kleine Kindertests);
Mira Stambak test for rhythmic structuring;
Piaget-Head battery (Galifret-Granjon fascicle) for spatial orientation;
Marianne Frostig test for visual perception;
Lauretta Bender visual-motor structuration test (with Santucci/Galifret-Granjon adaptation);
Kohs cubes (Arthur scale);
Berges-Daurat-Hmeljak-Stambak body schema test;
Van Roozendaal mobility profile;
Dr Janseune tone-relaxation test (Belgium);
Harris test for laterality, completed by the Sevenoo test.

I. — Psycho-motor profile

For children up to about 6 years, we rely principally on the Gesell and C. Buhler (Kleine Kindertests) tests, excellently adapted to the very young. Beyond this age, we take up the Ozeretsky-Guilmain test, which is subdivided as follows.

A. Dynamic coordination of the hands

Classical tests from the Ozeretsky-Guilmain battery — aimed at appreciating bimanual dexterity (throw-catch, fine manipulations, thumb-index opposition, etc.). Each test gives an age.

B. General dynamic coordination

Jumps (feet together, on one foot), running, walking in balance, long jump — the child is observed in his global aptitudes. The standard values give us an age.

C. Balance — static coordination

Maintaining a posture (standing feet together, on one foot, eyes closed). The mean of the results of the three sub-tests is taken.

D. Speed

Mira Stambak dotting test: making as many dots as possible in a given time, in boxes of different sizes. Allows the appreciation of speed but also of the precision of the gesture.

E. Orientation in space — Piaget-Head

Piaget-Head battery adapted by Galifret-Granjon, applicable from 6-7 to about 11 years. Comprises:

designation of body parts;
reproduction of the examiner’s movements;
hands test (with and without inversion through the mirror effect);
so-called “figure” test and reproduction of spatial sketches.

The test, rigorously standardised, gives an age. It is particularly revealing in dyslexics, who often present a significant delay in this structuring.

F. Visual perception — Marianne Frostig test

The Frostig test (Developmental Test of Visual Perception) explores five aspects of visual perception:

eye-hand coordination;
figure-ground perception;
constancy of form;
position in space;
spatial relations.

French edition at the Centre de Psychologie Appliquée. Gives an age of visual perception for each of the five sub-tests, and a total.

F bis. Visual-motor structuration test — Lauretta Bender

The child must reproduce geometric figures presented on cards. We use the Santucci/Galifret-Granjon adaptation. The test informs on visuo-motor maturation and on possible indices of graphic disorganisation.

F ter. Kohs cubes (Arthur scale)

The Kohs cubes — according to the Arthur adaptation (A point scale of performance tests, Chicago, 1943) — give a particularly fine measure of spatial analysis-synthesis. Excellent for bringing out the difficulties of dyslexics.

G. Body schema

The body schema is defined, according to the work of Wallon, L’Hermitte, Le Boulch and Vayer, as the consciousness the individual has of his body, of the parts that compose it and of their mutual relations and with the surrounding space.

We use the Berges-Daurat-Hmeljak-Stambak test (Centre de Psychologie Appliquée, Paris). This test, applicable from 4-5 years, comprises three phases:

1st phase: Evocation of the image — for the face only the outline is given; for the body the entire head and the outline of the body. The child must place the pieces in exact position. Each piece set in place is removed before the next is put in. For this he must be able to reproduce the whole mentally.

2nd phase: Construction. Here the child has all the pieces and must coordinate them. He can thereby arrive at an appreciation of the various localisations. The multitude of pieces makes the task more difficult, especially in the profile test where one must choose between exact and inexact pieces.

3rd phase: Reproduction. Here, the child must reconstruct the face or the body, with the model before his eyes. This shows us to what point the model may help him.

The result is noted in points and compared with a table of normal values. The result of these three tests gives us each time an age of which we take the mean.

H. Temporo-spatial structurings

a) Rhythmic structure of Stambak. The examiner taps rhythmic beats (the hands hidden behind cardboard) which the child must repeat. For instance: short beats with a quarter-second interval, long beats with a one-second interval. Twenty-one structures are proposed (from the simplest “0 0 0” to complex sequences of the type “0 00 00 000”). After an error, the same structure is repeated; if the second attempt is good, the child receives a point. Stopped after three successive missed structures.

Valuation — mean of failures:

Normal	Dyslexics
6 years: 9	under 9 years: 10.5
8 years: 5.76	above: 8
10 years: 3.26
12 years: 3.4
15 years: 0.5

The test gives us information on the auditory perception of the child, notably the power of structuring time through analysis and through reproduction of what is heard, with a good neuro-motor coordination. Children with a delay in language development do not succeed in this test, as well as dyslexics, who obtain results showing a delay of 2 to 3 years. Here we note a very close relation between the structuring of time on the one hand and the acquisition of language and reading on the other. This corresponds to Prof. Tomatis’s theory, which sees disorders of auditory perception as the cause of dyslexia.

b) Symbolisation of spatial structures. The spatial structures are represented by small circles 3 cm in diameter presented on cardboard. The structures are shown to the child for 1 to 2 seconds and he is then asked to draw what he has seen. The test is stopped after two consecutive failures. This test shows us much more the visual perception of spatial structures and depends very strongly on the perception of the eye and the direction of writing of the hand.

c) Symbolisation of temporal structures. This test corresponds to reading, which is here done by reproducing the structures shown by small pencil strokes. The structures are likewise presented by 3 cm-diameter circles. The children who present reading difficulties distinctly have trouble succeeding in this test.

d) Transcription of temporal structures. This test corresponds to dictation. The structures are tapped by the observer and the child reproduces the circles on paper. One attempt per structure and stopped after two failures.

Notation for the spatio-temporal tests: we say the test is successful if the structuring of the transcriptions and reproductions is clear and clean. We give one point per successful test. We total the points obtained in the various aspects of temporo-spatial structuring (maximum 40 points). In addition we observe the hand used, the direction of transcription, the direction of rotation of the circles, the comprehension of the symbols with or without explanation.

Here is a table by age:

6 years	6 points
7 years	14 points
8 years	19 points
9 years	24 points
10 years	27 points
11 years	32 points

II. — Complementary tests

These tests do not always give us an age determination, or are scored with a system of points we cannot transcribe on our graph, but they are no less useful for that.

A. Neuro-motor behaviour

1. Laterality test. The aim is to seek the primary laterality of the person — a test is only valid if it examines activities that have not been learned under the influence of milieu, culture, etc. For instance, it would be wrong to determine hand dominance by asking the child to shake hands. We do this test before all others to avoid the child becoming aware of the aim of the examination. Each test is repeated three times for greater reliability. We use the same schema as Prof. Tomatis, which is an adaptation of the Harris test. To this we have added ear dominance (Sevenoo test, more out of curiosity than for its value — for comparison with the audiolaterometer).

Some sub-tests for hand dominance seem less reliable to us, notably dealing cards, drawing, writing, cutting with scissors: these activities may be too influenced by learning. The result is represented graphically:

D = right, 3/3
d = hesitant, 2/3
M = alternating (left + right)
g = hesitant, 2/3
G = left, 3/3

2. Syncinesias. a) Of the fingers: by setting the thumb in opposition to the other fingers, one after the other, in both directions. Notation: 1 = no syncinesias, 2 = slight, 3 = distinct, 4 = very pronounced. b) Arms and hands: puppet test — gestures to be reproduced; one observes the quality of execution (correct and supple movement, slight neck syncinesias, irregular movements, great difficulty) and reproduction syncinesias. c) Of the feet: in a standing position feet together, spreading and rejoining alternately the tips of the feet, heels in place. Notes from 1 to 4.

Remark: according to the studies of Mira Stambak and Professor de Ajuriaguerra, there are two kinds of syncinesias — those that diminish from 6 years to disappear between 10 and 12 years, and tonic syncinesias which remain existent and seem rather linked to certain individuals (for instance the athetoids). We have noted that normal children and especially dyslexics have at least as many, if not more, syncinesias than the mentally deficient.

3. Examination of relaxation and paratonia. (The impossibility of voluntary motor inhibition.) Notes: 1 = complete relaxation; 2 = intermittent relaxation; 3 = slight tension; 4 = very pronounced tension. We use the test of Dr Janseune (Belgium): palpation of muscle tone, resistance in passive movements, elasticity of joints, fall of the lifted limb, relaxation of the arms in anteroflexed position of the trunk, verification of relaxation in dorsal, lateral and ventral lying positions. Remark: mastery of tone is very linked to motricity — a mentally deficient child has much more difficulty in relaxing than a normal child. The same observation for the character-disordered. There is no general rule: for instance in mongoloids, there is no paratonia, and in some mentally deficient children either.

4. Examination of breathing. We observe spontaneous breathing, namely thoracic, diaphragmatic or high-thoracic, as well as superficial or deep. Then, rhythm, the measurement of expiration time and the blockage of breathing. Why this observation? There seems to be a relation between breathing and the psyche: a long expiration goes together with good application. An anxious child does not breathe well because of his tensions. The mentally deficient, especially the severe cases, have no control over their breathing.

B. Perceptive-motor behaviour

1. Tactile perceptions. A few small tests, not scored in points and without table of comparison, focused on the power of stereognostic recognition (eyes closed, without noise): a) recognition of elementary materials — wood, iron, glass, paper, cardboard, plastic, wool, chalk, leather; b) recognition of forms — circle, square, triangle, cross, sphere, semi-circle, rectangle, letters (A, O, Z, E); c) recognition of size (large, small, medium); d) recognition of weight (light, heavy, heavier); e) recognition of temperature (cold, warm, hot); f) recognition of roughness (rough, medium, smooth); g) recognition of hardness (cardboard, wood, iron). Notation by + and −.

2. Auditory gnosis. The tests employed are less precise than the audiometry and selectivity test. We have no standardised tests of our own. We have Stambak’s for temporal structuring, which helps determine auditory perception, but auditory gnosis is not tested. We have done a few simple tests scored by + or −: a) familiar noises (dropping a coin, shaking keys, crumpling paper, brushing teeth, writing on the blackboard, closing a book by slamming it, tearing paper); b) noises of rolling objects (distinguishing small from large wooden balls, glass / plastic marbles); c) recognising high and low sounds (with a flute); d) recognition of sound duration; e) discrimination of letters and words heard (blindfolded) — one begins with very different comparisons (a and o; b and i), then with the same intonation, finally the most difficult task: letters that resemble each other in pronunciation (m and n; v and f; b and p; t and d). Finally one uses words such as: blouse / pelouse — beau / peau.

C. Rhythm

This is done by: 1. sight (watching the movement of the rhythm); 2. hearing (listening attentively to the rhythm); 3. muscular sense (by deep and superficial sensibility, which is made by the kinaesthetic memory accompanying the rhythmic movement). Explanation of the test: initiation and reproduction of the metronome’s cadence.

1. Rapid rhythm: 80 beats per minute. The child is placed at a distance of 2.5 to 3 m from the metronome; a paper is attached to the end of the pendulum; the child watches and listens for a few moments. a) Imitation: the child must tap with the arms. b) Reproduction: the child must clap his hands in the same rhythm (without moving his arms). Qualification: + if all is synchronised, − if there are difficulties of accommodation.

2. Slow rhythm: 60 beats per minute. Same procedure.

III. — Mobility profile (Van Roozendaal)

Whereas the psychomotor profile gives us the evolution of the child at a well-determined age on the plane of psychomotricity, the mobility profile gives us much more his general behaviours; in movements, we see here the reflections of his relations with the outside world. The changes in the first plane indicate to us the changes from one stage to another. These changes manifest themselves in the various stages of life: the incoordination of the very young child, mastery and balance in the adult, uncertainty and loss of control of movements in old persons. We have taken the 13 categories of movements according to Van Roozendaal, but adapted to the child’s capacities. The notes given range from 0 to 10. The mean of the normal performances of the children who come to us for treatment is used. The high and low limits in the results give us indications for treatment.

This group of tests stresses the motricity of expression, the movements proper. Beside the psychomotor observation, these movements manifest themselves especially in the treatment period. It is the clinicians’ test. The test of the Dutchman H. P. Van Roozendaal is the basis of this test, but he had conceived it for psychotic patients. The 13 categories of movements are:

Adaptation of the sense of measure.
Coordination towards a final goal.

10-9: always takes part in the game and is very creative
8: always takes part in the game and is creative
7-6: always takes part in the game
5-4: takes part in the game, sees clearly in the game
3: takes part in the game from time to time, with little sagacity
2: scarcely plays, since he does not understand the situation
1-0: does not play and understands nothing of the situation

Adaptation to balance (point of support and gravity).
Harmony of movements.
Comprehension (insight) of the movements shown.

10-9: learns very quickly and quickly develops the movements learned
8: quickly learns even difficult movements, and develops them
7: learns new movements, develops them
6-5: learns slowly, the learned movements disappear
4-3: does not learn new movements and the old ones are lost
2: does not learn, the old ones go away quickly
1-0: no longer possible to make a test

Intensity of movements.
Attitude towards movement.
Game technique.
Game tactics.
Way of living the game.

10-9: plays in a very cooperative and agreeable way
8: cooperative and agreeable play
7-6: cooperative play
5-4: non-cooperative play but not disturbing
3: non-cooperative and becomes disturbing
2: disturbing play
1-0: child to be eliminated because of his disturbing behaviour

In these last situations, the player is not oriented towards the group; he is selfish, disturbing and aggressive.

Some observations at the initial examination

We distinguish two main groups:

1st group: dyslexics, stammerers, character-disordered.
2nd group: mental disorders — mild, moderate, severe deficiency.

I. On the plane of basic motricity. First group: little or no delay. Second group: the lower the intelligence, the greater the delay.

II. On the plane of neuro-motricity. Perturbations in both groups.

III. On the plane of perceptivo-motricity.

Body schema — first group: difficulties; mild deficiency: difficulties; moderate deficiency: serious difficulties; severe deficiency: very great delay.
Spatial orientation — same as body schema.
Visual perception — first group: little or no difficulty; mild deficiency: few difficulties; moderate deficiency: difficulties; severe deficiency: serious difficulties.
Auditory perception — first group: familiar objects normal, differentiation high/low sounds perturbed; mild deficiency: familiar objects normal, high/low sounds perturbed; moderate and severe deficiency: familiar objects perturbed, high/low sounds perturbed.
Tactile perception — first group: no difficulty; mild and moderate deficiency: no difficulty; severe deficiency: perturbed.
Temporo-spatial structuring — dyslexics and stammerers: temporal structuring difficulties, spatial structuring no difficulty; mild and moderate deficiency: same; character-disordered: no difficulty; severe deficiency: difficulties on both planes.

Quality of movements. Dyslexics and stammerers: slightly perturbed. Character-disordered: gravely perturbed. Mild deficiency: slight delay. Moderate deficiency: moderate delay. Severe deficiency: very serious delay.

Bibliography

C. R. Arthur, A point scale of performance tests, Chicago, 1943 (KOHS-Blokjes, p. 37-41-55-57). — L. Bender, Test moteur de structuration visuelle, Centre de Psychologie Appliquée, Square Jouvenet, Paris (16^e). — J. Berges and Lézine, Tests d’imitation de gestes, Masson, Paris, 1963. — Berges-Daurat-Hmeljak-Stambak, Test du schéma corporel, Centre de Psychologie Appliquée. — A. Bucher, Troubles psycho-moteurs chez l’enfant, Paris, Masson, 1970. — C. Buhler, Kleine Kindertests. — M. Frostig, Developmental test of visual perception, Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto, 1963; French edition at the Centre de Psychologie Appliquée. — A. Gesell, Le Développement de l’Enfant, P.U.F., 1950. — E. Guilmain, Tests moteurs et tests psycho-moteurs, Foyer Central d’Hygiène, Paris, 1948. — Galifret-Granjon, Batterie Piaget-Head (fascicule I — Manuel pour l’examen psychologique de l’enfant). — J. Harris, Harris Test voor laterale dominantie, Editest, Brussels, 1966. — Illingworth, The normal child, J. P. A. Churchill Ltd, London, 3rd edition. — J. Le Boulch, L’Éducation par le Mouvement, Éditions Sociales Françaises, Paris, 1966. — L. Picq and P. Vayer, Éducation psycho-motrice et arriération mentale, Doin, Paris, 1966. — Piorrowsky, Schijfjes van Piorkowsky, Établissements Bettendorf, Brussels. — Mira Stambak, Trois épreuves de rythme (fascicule 3, Manuel pour l’examen psychologique de l’enfant). — Sevenoo, Lateralisatietest bij kleuters (Proefschrift, Rijksuniversiteit Gent). — G. Tardieu, Le dossier clinique de l’I.M.C., Cahier du Cercle de Documentation et Information, 1969. — P. Vereecken, Definitie en onderzoek van het lichaamsschema, Tijdschrift voor opvoedkunde, 1960, p. 253-261. — R. Zazzo, Manuel pour l’examen psychologique de l’enfant, Delachaux et Niestlé, Neuchâtel, 1958. — N. P. Van Roozendaal, “A method of movement analyse with psychiatric patients”, Folia Psychiatrica, Neurologica et Neurochirurgica Neerlandica, 1960, p. 205-218. — H. Janseune, “Tonus-Relaxatie”, Orthopedagogica, 1969, no. 2.

Discussion of Mr Waeyaert’s paper (Antwerp)

“The psycho-motor examination of the child” — Examination of the body schema
Debate chaired by Dr A. E. Sidlauskas (Ottawa)

Dr Sidlauskas

I think you have all understood how important the psycho-motor examination is, because life is only demonstrated through movement; everything that lives moves, and the psyche too expresses itself through movement. But this psycho-motricity must be directed, organised, channelled. When it is perturbed, distributed in anarchic fashion, that proves that something is wrong; psychic energy is then fractioned into a scattering in which it is lost.

The work Mr Waeyaert has carried out is, in my view, of great importance, especially for us who are the representatives of Professor Tomatis’s ideas in the more or less demanding world of the sciences. This effort should be communicated to all users so that we may, one and all, verify whether the data set out by Mr Waeyaert apply equally to Canadians, Belgians, Spaniards, South Africans, and so on. If we manage to achieve something truly constructive, we shall be able to offer the scientific world valid scales for measuring psychomotricity. So far, the criteria in this field are still very wobbly from the point of view of statistical and objective validation. You therefore understand why I encourage with much enthusiasm this kind of work.

Prof. Tomatis

Personally, I consider that it is not for Mr Waeyaert to apologise for having been too long in his paper; I believe rather that it is for us to apologise for not having given him enough time to communicate to us all the data of his work on psycho-motricity, approached from the angle of audio-psycho-phonology. Contrary to what he thinks, we urge him to work even more in this direction so that he may offer us next year a paper of this quality.

It is true that we lack this homogenisation of research in psycho-motricity, and it would be desirable, as Dr Sidlauskas was saying just now, that we have grids enabling all users to seek in the same direction and to work on the same bases. For the moment we are scattered cases, one and all, and not having sufficient elements at our disposal we can never determine the prognosis or the time necessary for the setting in place of the control circuits, for a loading of sessions, and so on. It would therefore be useful to have a profile of the underlying psycho-motor structuring that would allow us to know whether the subject’s organism will elaborate, organise itself more or less rapidly in the future.

I should like Mr Waeyaert to think particularly of psycho-motor organisation through language so that he may offer us next year tests before our eyes or his experimentations at the level of each centre. I ask him first of all to think that, on the psycho-motor plane, for the general tests done at the level of the command formulated by the one who communicates the instructions, or those of language of the elaboration of such or such movement, of such or such gesture.

There is one thing that has always interested me greatly and has particularly preoccupied me for some years — this phenomenon of slackness or loss of tone according to the subject’s temperament. I should like more attention given to this question of temperaments — that is, what one englobes for instance under his phloric, which will be independently of temperament and hyperaemia; you do not have at all the same conditions for another time presenting a different temperament. It will be the same for another time, if tonicity is differently distributed, if relaxation — since you broach this problem — it is that there is harmonisation of the charges of an individual in all his gesture, by — par — and it is that there is harmonisation, one knows; they are the places where there are contractures, spasms — that is to say anxiety. It is well to know the use of what may underlie what is homogeneous in his structure on the plane of the distribution of energy, of muscular tone; that is to say, I think, that the question of temperaments must help you go further.

Another thing that seemed important to me is breathing; you spoke of bodily tone, of posture; do not forget that all this has a very precise signification. He who no longer breathes indicates, on the analytic plane, that he can no longer go out of the mother and does not wish to go out of her: he finds himself in social posture, he does not breathe, he has dyspnoeas also expressing his refusal to enter the universe.

I shall ask you, Mr Waeyaert, to consider henceforth all that you have done — which is very, very fascinating — more from the angle of language, that is to say in terms of the being’s desire to go forward. Otherwise you risk reintegrating a whole set of tests that make of man a well-trained anthropoid, but who will remain a being imprinted with his human becoming.

You have insisted much on syncinesias; I should like to urge you greatly on syncinesias at the moment of language. From the moment you see immediately, to set himself in listening, that he tries to settle his bodily posture and where you attend to this coming-to-consciousness of the body image of which you spoke just now, it is a question of the image one makes of oneself and of one’s own at certain stages of life. From the moment when the subject is going to want to set himself to speak in his turn, syncinesias will appear at the level of the upper limbs, the upper limbs, the trunk, the face, and so on. You will thus be able to observe the loci of diffusion of energy, which are often very meaningful. I think we could often find, in speaking, a grid taking account of the factors that intervene in the secretion of language.

Mr Dubard

It is always personally difficult for me, in a very deep and detailed examination, to recognise precisely the link there is between all these tests and the possibility we shall have subsequently of using the energies to help the child become conscious of himself, to direct the essential energies of his motricity. As regards the work I do with C.M.D. children, I am beginning to transform considerably the nature of the examinations, for that gave me apparently tables not only very wide but difficult to use. And at the present time, difficult to draw up a profile that would be directly usable and not a succession of data left practically to drop into a drawer.

Mr Waeyaert

That is what I wanted to explain. One test is done after the other, then the results are reported on a single graph from which one can immediately determine what the child can do, his coordination of the hands, what age he has, and so on. I shall give you an example on the table.

If we are dealing with a child of 5, we put a line here and, at each examination (for instance hand coordination giving an age of 5 years), we report the results on the table, and so on. For the auditory perception of a 12-year-old child for instance, we do the same and we obtain thus, for each state, results indicated by a cross on the table. As for the complementary tests that cannot enter the programme, we mark them on the side with all their details and their conclusions at the end. We can thus see what psycho-motor age a child obtains after these tests, whether he has a psycho-motor age of 10 for a real age of 10 or a psycho-motor age of 8, that is, 2 years of delay. We thus obtain a global view of all these tests.

Mr Dubard

Do you also succeed, with the help of these tables, in synthesising the cause or causes which, in fact, bring about these various disorders?

Mr Waeyaert

Yes, of course. With these results, we can for example, at the level of the perceptivo-motor tests, find the difficulties a subject encounters in his schooling. If it is a mentally deficient who still has good motricity, we can determine what are his difficulties for living, for existing, and so on. And we find at that moment the psychological origins underlying these disorders of motricity. By thus organising these results methodically, we hope to further improve the progress of our children.

Source: Waeyaert M., “L’examen psychomoteur chez l’enfant”, in II^e Congrès International d’Audio-Psycho-Phonologie, Paris, 11-14 May 1972, pp. 32-58. Centre d’Audio-Psycho-Phonologie of Antwerp (Belgium). Document digitised from the personal archives of Alfred Tomatis.