Projection of Body Image And Printing the Alphabet

A direct nonverbal measure of body-image was attempted with 242 normal children ages 4 to 15, and 32 children known for letter reversals. By use of a figure outline wall chart marked with a 4 dot grid, children could point to where they thought the experimenter had twice tapped them on their back or legs. Accuracy in this task was age related but only predicted printing reversals for the clinical sample. By age 10 most children's performance on the body-image task was close to errorless. An analysis of incorrect responses made by the clinical sample indicated that the major source of error was likely due to inattention to relevant directional cues. However, a subgroup of letter reversers also persistently reversed their body sides. This suggested a processing mirror-image disturbance. A remedial strategy for both error sources was proposed.