Abstract
This study aimed to examine the ability of the Quick Neurological Screening Test–II (QNST–II) (Mutti et al., 1998) to discriminate between children with and without perceptual‐motor deficits and to further clarify its psychometric characteristics. Ninety‐four children aged six to seven years were tested on the QNST‐II. Out of this pool of subjects, 63 children had perceptual‐motor deficits and 31 were typical controls. The children with perceptual‐motor deficits scored significantly lower than the control children on the total score and on each of the subtest's scores of the QNST–II. Inter‐rater reliability indicated a high degree of correlation between both evaluators' total scores of the QNST–II. In terms of the test's sensitivity and specificity, QNST–II scores correctly classified 97% of the children with perceptual‐motor deficits and 84% of the children from the control group. The findings of this study support the capability of the QNST–II to discriminate between children with perceptual‐motor deficits and typical children; thereby suggesting its usefulness as a screening measure to identify children at risk for difficulties in school performance. Copyright © 2002 Whurr Publishers Ltd.