Developmental Test of Visual Perception – Third Edition (DTVP-3)

The DTVP-3 is the most recent revision of Marianne Frostig’s popular Developmental Test of Visual Perception. Of all the tests of visual perception and visual-motor integration, the DTVP-3 is unique in that its scores are reliable at the .80 level or above for all subtests and .90 or above for the composites for all age groups; its scores are validated by many studies; its norms are based on a large (N = 1,035), representative sample; it yields scores for both visual perception (no motor response) and visual-motor integration ability; and it is shown to be unbiased relative to race, gender, and handedness.

New Features of the DTVP-3

• New normative data were collected in 2010 and 2011
• Norms were extended upward to age 12 years, 11 months
• The composite scores have no floor or ceiling effects
• Numerous eligibility and validity studies, including studies of the test’s sensitivity, specificity, and ROC/AUC, have been provided
• The study of item bias has been expanded

• The overall look of the test was updated

DTVP-3 Subtests

The DTVP-3 has five subtests.

• Eye-Hand Coordination. Children are required to draw precise straight or curved lines in accordance with visual boundaries.
• Copying. Children are shown a simple figure and asked to draw it on a piece of paper. The figure serves as a model for the drawing. Subsequent figures are increasingly complex.
• Figure-Ground. Children are shown stimulus figures and asked to find as many of the figures as they can on a page where the figures are hidden in a complex, confusing background.
• Visual Closure. Children are shown a stimulus figure and asked to select the exact figure from a series of figures that have been incompletely drawn. In order to complete the match, children have to mentally supply the missing parts of the figures in the series.

• Form Constancy. Children are shown a stimulus figure and asked to find it in a series of figures. The targeted figure will have a different size, position, and/or shade, and it may be hidden in a distracting background.

DTVP-3 Composites

The results of the five DTVP-3 subtests are combined to form three composites:

• Motor-reduced Visual Perception,
• Visual-Motor Integration, and

• General Visual Perception (combination of  motor-reduced and motor-enhanced subtests)

Subtests were assigned to a particular composite on the basis of the amount of motor ability required by their formats.