TIPS FOR GROWING: Edition 6 - Visual Perceptual Skills Impact On A Child's Success At Home & School (Part One)

11.17.2022

Welcome to the sixth edition of Tips For Growing! These blog posts will focus on important clinical topics that are regularly encountered when working with children. We hope these seeds of information will help with the most important job there is . . . helping children grow.

Today’s "Tips For Growing" is the first of two parts that will focus on types of visual perception, symptoms of deficiencies, and resources to help address difficulties in these areas. Visual Perceptual Areas will include: Figure Ground, Form Constancy, Spatial Relations/Position in Space and Visual Closure.

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While parents generally think about a child’s acuity when considering how well their child can see, therapists and educators realize there is much more to eyesight than having 20/20 vision. A child may have normal acuity to clearly discern the shapes and details of what they see but may still have problems with visual perceptual processing.

Children require intact visual perception to understand, evaluate, and interpret what is seen. Visual perception refers to the brain's ability to make sense of what the eyes see. This is not the same as visual acuity which refers to how clearly a person can see.

Intact visual perception is necessary for children to successfully function at school, at home, and on the playground. Imagine trying to read when the letter d looks no different than the letter b. How about being repeatedly late for school because it takes extra time to get dressed. Imagine looking over and over in the drawer or closet for the correct clothing that just doesn’t seem to be there.

FIGURE GROUND

Figure Ground refers to the child’s ability to ability to perceive the foreground from the background in a visual presentation. Impairments in this area of visual perception may interfere with locating specific pictures, symbols, letters, numbers or words in a book, a map, a classroom board, or on other visual material.

Symptoms of Difficulty with Figure Ground

Does the child show a poor ability to quickly localize a specified word or sentence on a page?
Does the child display confusion and fatigue quickly when looking at busy visual displays or pages?
Does the child have difficulty copying from one source to another?
Does the child have difficulty with hidden picture activities?
Does the child struggle when finding objects in a drawer?

>> Find Resources to Address Figure Ground here!

FORM CONSTANCY

Form Constancy refers to the child’s ability to identify or sort objects, shapes, symbols, letters, and/or words, despite differences in size or position. With form constancy, the form is constant but the orientation changes. A child with intact form constancy may mentally manipulate forms to visualize outcomes, such as where to place a puzzle piece with little to no trial and error.

Symptoms of Difficulty with Form Constancy

Does the child have trouble detecting letters, digits, or symbols that are of different sizes, colors, or rotated?
Does the child struggle when distinguishing between similar letters (r/n, o/a) and words?
Does the child have difficulty distinguishing between similar forms such as a circle/oval and square/rectangle?
Does the child have difficulty recognizing words, letters, or numbers that are presented in a different font, writing style, or case (upper/lower)?
Does the child have a poor ability to recognize words presented in vertical form?

>> Find Resources to Address Form Constancy here!

SPATIAL RELATIONS & POSITION IN SPACE

Spatial Relations is the ability to perceive two or more object’s position in space relative to oneself and in relation to each other. Spatial Relations involves the ability to understand directions, reversals, and identify left and right on one’s own body.

Position in Space refers to the ability to perceive or judge an object’s position relative to oneself and the direction in which it is turned.

Symptoms of Difficulty with Spatial Relations & Position in Space

Does the child have difficulty relating objects to each other?
When writing does the child struggle with spacing within and between words and organization of the page?
Does the child have difficulty writing on a line and within a given space?
Does the child struggle with copying block, parquetry, and pegboard designs?
Does the child have a poor ability to draw shapes?
Does the child struggle with using maps, graphs, and grids?
Does the child incorrectly store items in drawers and closets, placing them upside down, sideways, and/or inside out?
Does the child demonstrate a poor understanding of spatial terms (up, down, in front, behind, between, backwards, forward, left, right)?
Does the child display difficulty with proper letter formation-form a circle in a clockwise rather than the preferred counter- clockwise manner?
Does the child reverse letters- confuse b & d, p & q, W & M, 6 & 9, S & 3?

>> Find Resources to Address Position in Space and Spatial Relations here!

VISUAL CLOSURE

Visual Closure refers to the child’s ability to identify forms or objects from incomplete presentations. Impairments in this area of visual perception may interfere with the child’s ability to perceive the entire presentation of what is to be viewed and/or read. Deficits in visual closure may reduce reading speed because the child needs to view each letter slowly and carefully. Children with intact visual closure do not have to read every letter by itself, but the word as a whole.

Symptoms of Difficulty with Visual Closure

Does the child show a poor ability to locate objects when only a portion is visible, such as finding a specific toy in a box full of overlapping toys?
Does the child require extra time to recognize familiar words?

>> Find Resources to Address Visual Closure here!

We hope these seeds of information will help with the most important job there is . . . helping children grow!