The Bender-Gestalt with adolescents: comparison of two scoring systems.

The present study was designed to evaluate the relative efficacy of two different scoring systems (Koppitz, 1975; Lacks, 1984) for use in evaluating Bender-Gestalt performance by adolescents. Normative data are presented for the two scoring systems with a sample of "normal" controls (N = 150), emotionally disturbed (N = 140), and mentally retarded/neurologically impaired adolescents (N = 47), aged 12-17. Results suggested that age and psychopathology were not related to the quality of the Bender-Gestalt reproductions of these subjects. An inverse relationship was found between cognitive ability and visual motor skills. Data obtained from these samples of adolescents showed a high degree of consistency between the scoring systems, which suggests that either scoring procedure is suitable for evaluating the Bender-Gestalt performance of adolescents.