A STUDY OF PERCEPTION USED A SAMPLE OF 325 CEREBRAL PALSIED CHILDREN (211 WERE SPASTIC, 114 WERE ATHETOID) AND 110 NORMAL CHILDREN. ALL CHILDREN WERE BETWEEN SIX AND 16 YEARS OF AGE AND OF NORMAL INTELLIGENCE. TO INVESTIGATE PERCEPTUAL DISTURBANCES, SIX TESTS WERE ADMINISTERED--THE TACTUAL MOTOR TEST, THE SYRACUSE VISUAL FIGURE BACKGROUND TEST (SVFB), THE MARBLE BOARD TEST, A MAZE TEST, AND TWO DISC TESTS DESIGNED TO MEASURE TACTUAL PERCEPTION OF GEOMETRIC SHAPES. THE BINET VOCABULARY TEST WAS USED AS A SCREENING TEST AND TO ESTABLISH RAPPORT. DATA WAS ANALYZED BY COMPARING THE THREE GROUPS OF SUBJECTS ON EACH MEASURE AND DETERMINING RELATIONSHIPS TO CHRONOLOGICAL AGE AND SEX. INTERRELATIONSHIPS AMONG THE PERCEPTUAL MEASURES ARE PRESENTED. CEREBRAL PALSIED SUBJECTS PERFORMED MORE POORLY ON THE SVFB, THE MARBLE BOARD, THE TACTUAL MOTOR, AND MAZE TESTS THAN DID THE NORMAL SUBJECTS. DISC TESTS WERE EASILY PERFORMED BY ALL SUBJECTS. SPASTIC SUBJECTS PERFORMED MORE POORLY THAN ATHETOID SUBJECTS ON THE MARBLE BOARD AND THE SVFB TESTS. ALL TESTS SHOWED DEVELOPMENTAL TRENDS AND THE EFFECT OF AGE WAS MOST PRONOUNCED FOR THE TACTUAL MOTOR, MARBLE BOARD, AND MAZE TESTS, AND LOWER FOR THE SVFB TEST. GENERALLY, RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN TESTS WERE LOW (EXCEPT FOR MARBLE BOARD AND TACTUAL MOTOR TESTS FOR THE SPASTIC GROUP). IN AN ADDITIONAL STUDY, THE TERMAN-MERRILL INTELLIGENCE SCALE VOCABULARY TEST, THE FLY TEST, THE SVFB TEST, A TEST OF COLOR VISION, AND AN EXPERIMENTAL FIGURE-BACKGROUND TEST WERE ADMINISTERED TO 401 SPASTIC SUBJECTS AGED SIX TO 16 YEARS. SPASTIC CHILD'S PERCEPTION OF FIGURE INCREASES WITH LENGTH OF HIS OBSERVATION TIME. MORE FIGURE IS PERCEIVED IN COLOR MATERIALS. PERCEPTION IS SLIGHTLY BETTER FOR THREE DIMENSIONAL THAN FOR TWO DIMENSIONAL MATERIALS. MORE FIGURE WAS PERCEIVED WHEN A LARGE FIGURE ON A LARGE BACKGROUND WAS PRESENTED THAN WITH OTHER COMBINATIONS. A 96-ITEM BIBLIOGRAPHY IS INCLUDED. THIS DOCUMENT WAS PUBLISHED BY SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY PRESS, BOX 87, UNIVERSITY STATION, SYRACUSE, N.Y. 13210. $6.00. (MY)