About

Background of the ChoRo: There is a need for ecologically valid, or real-life based, assessment tools in rehabilitation. Visual perception, or the ability to interpret visual information so that one can respond to it properly, is a vital skill needed for driving. For example, driving requires us to determine how far away another vehicle is, to quickly find landmarks, and to recognize obstacles and driving routes, even in inclement weather. The most common visual perceptual tool used in the rehabilitation setting is the Motor Free Visual Perceptual Test, 3^rd Edition (Colarusso & Hammill, 2003) which presents a series of non-meaningful figures and shapes, asks the test taker to identify and remember them, or to relate them to one another in specific ways. In response to local occupational therapists’ request for a more useful visual perceptual test, we developed the ChoRo, which uses photos and concepts related specifically to driving.

The ChoRo initially had 60 questions involving photos and figures related to different aspects of visual perception (e.g. form recognition, visual memory, spatial relations). We pilot tested the tool on 109 community dwelling adults. Analysis on the test items revealed 12 questions that  failed to have an adequate level of discrimination. We also conducted a preliminary concurrent validity analysis on the ChoRo and the MVPT on a sub-sample of our initial respondents (n=32). The correlation of the ChoRo and the MVPT was 0.62 (p=.000). This is a moderate correlation which demonstrates that the ChoRo, while related to the MVPT, offers unique information with regard to visual perception. Additional descriptive, reliability, and validity analyses will be on-going.

Acknowledgements—The current research team wishes to acknowledge many who have moved this process forward: UNE alumna and occupational therapist Kimberly Chonko (The “Cho”  part of the name) who gave us the initial impetus to develop this type of test, UNE alumni: Amanda Alboth, Jacqueline Aldred, Cassie Ames, Rebecca Lindquist, and Laura Wallace; co-researchers Jessica Bolduc (also an alumna) and Prashant Mittal, and current graduate students Pao On Truong and Anthony Pedersen.