Our newest training course, Visual Perception, looks into children’s capacity to interpret, analyse and give meaning to what is seen.
So, why might this be relevant in your classroom? The seven areas of visual perception (visual form constancy, visual memory, visual sequential memory, visual figure ground, visual discrimination, visual spatial relationships, and visual closure) are all distinct skills that make up visual perception and each one can seriously impact a child’s learning experience if it is underdeveloped. In this blog post we will explore a few of these skills, but for a more comprehensive understanding of the seven skills, please see our training course on visual perception.
1. Visual Form Constancy
Children with visual form constancy issues may learn to recognise a number, letter or word in a certain context (e.g., in their book), but they might not recognise it elsewhere, e.g., when you write it on the whiteboard. This is because the skill of visual form constancy involves being able to see a form and find it no matter what happens to its size, if it is rotated or reversed, or if it is hidden amongst other forms. This makes learning difficult as it is hard to understand that symbols are the same across contexts.
2. Visual Discrimination
Children with visual discrimination difficulties may find recognising differences in objects difficult, e.g, shapes, numerals, letters, and objects. You may notice that they reverse letters and numbers and are inconsistent or forgetful with their use of punctuation and capital letters. This is because the visual discrimination skill forms the foundation for matching and sorting skills: children use colour, form, shape, size etc. to identify differences and distinguish between objects in their environment.
3. Visual Sequential Memory
Children who struggle with this area of visual perception, which is quite a complex skill, may struggle to read well and they may take a long time to copy information from the whiteboard. This is because this skill involves the ability to remember (from immediate recall) a series of forms in sequence. So, using the example of being able to read, children must perceive the words in the correct sequence and then make sense of the sentence.
4. Visual Spatial Relationships
Children with visual spatial relationship difficulties may not understand their position or orientation in their environment which can affect their gross motor skills. You may notice they struggle to find a space in the hall for P.E., and they may find team games particularly challenging due to their difficulty with manoeuvring through space, especially if ball skills are required. You may also notice they struggle to follow instructions that involve sequences or positioning (e.g., “put your bag under the chair then stand behind Miss,”).
In our brand new training course, Visual Perception, written and delivered by children’s Occupational Therapist Roz Roscoe, we explore all of these areas in detail, plus the 3 other areas. We explain what presentations you may see in the classroom if a child is struggling with visual perception and, importantly, provide you with a wide range of activities, worksheets and information about each area so that you can offer your children support in school.
