Impact of SHOFER Computer Game on Visual-Motor Coordination in Children With Hearing Impairments

Objectives: The current study aimed at investigating the impact of SHOFER computer game on visual-motor coordination in children with hearing impairments. Methods: The current pre-test, post-test experimental study was conducted in Ahvaz, Iran in 2018. Sixteen preschool children with hearing impairment were randomly assigned into two groups of experimental (n=8) and control (n=8). The experimental group subjects played the SHOFER computer game (driving/racing genre) two 45-minute sessions per week for a five consecutive weeks, but the control group did not receive any intervention. Before and after the intervention, visual perception and attention, as visual-motor coordination components, were measured by the advanced Frostig test of visual perception and continuous performance test in both groups. Using SPSS version 21, the performance of the two groups was compared by running the Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon tests.  Results: The analysis of findings with the effect size indicator showed that the computer game increased attention and spatial perception in the experimental group. However, no significant difference was found between the groups, except in the sub-test of figure-ground perception. Discussion: The present study showed that commercial computer games can be used to improve visual-motor coordination of children with hearing impairments.