Abstract: Visual perception and related skills are tested to assess the level of a person's prerequisite skills for reading. An apparatus is operated by a qualified examiner to generate visual line patterns that the child must recall and reproduce. The testing apparatus comprises a control box and a display panel interconnected by a multi-wire cable. Two of eight control buttons (switches) spatially arranged in an eight-pointed star, are selectable by the examiner to generate a moving line pattern on the display which may be any one of a number of patterns moving between predetermined points on the display corresponding to the points of the star. The line patterns on the display each progress from a point of the star, to the center of the star and out to a second preselected point to thereby generate 45.degree., 90.degree., 135.degree. or 180.degree. patterns. A control is provided so that the patterns can be generated at different rates of say 0.25, 0.50, or 1.0 second per pattern.