Assessing Visual Perception in Urban Indigenous Schoolchildren: A Community-Based Study for Early Intervention Planning

Visual perception plays a crucial role in children's learning, yet research on these skills among Malaysia's urban Indigenous populations remains limited. This study assessed visual perceptual skills in urban Indigenous primary schoolchildren using standardized measures, addressing a critical gap in community health research. This community-based study was conducted at Petaling, Selangor, in 2024, and a cross-sectional design was employed. The visual perceptual skills were measured among 29 Level 1 Indigenous students (ages 7-9) using the Test of Visual Perceptual Skills-4th Edition (TVPS-4). It assessed seven subtests: visual discrimination, memory, spatial relationships, form constancy, sequential memory, figure-ground, and closure. A one-sample Wilcoxon signed rank test was done to compare the participants' median with the median of the normal value (U.S. norms). While overall scores aligned with normative data (p=0.160), significant variations emerged in visual discrimination (p=0.028), form constancy (p=0.017), and visual closure (p=0.004), indicating specific developmental differences. Urban Indigenous children demonstrated generally normative visual perceptual development, likely influenced by educational access and modern environmental factors. These findings establish important baseline data while highlighting the need for expanded research across diverse community settings to understand developmental patterns in this population better.