Visual Perception Skills
Visual perceptual skills help our brain to make sense of what we are seeing. They involve extracting and organising information the eyes see. It is not the same as to how clear we see something. Your child can have very clear vision, for instance, they could have 20/20 vision, but still not be able to make sense of the environment around them. The process of visual perception cannot be directly observed. It relies on input from other senses, previous experiences and cognitive functions. Visual perception includes many different components, these include; visual discrimination, visual closure, visual memory, visual spatial awareness and visual motor coordination.
We do a range of visual perceptual standardised and non-standardised assessments that can be a completed by an Occupational Therapist to provide further information on your child's visual perceptual abilities.
What visual perceptual difficulties may look like:
- Struggles to identify shapes and objects
- Difficulty with completing puzzles, dot to dots and general copying
- Looses track of words when reading
- Has difficulty sequencing words and letters
- Unable to tie shoe laces
- Letter reversal e.g. "b" instead of a "d"
It is important to have your child's eyes tested by a optometrist to rule out any vision problems.
What can you do to help your child? This is where the fun bit comes in for your child! There are multiple activities that can support and build their visual perceptual skills. These include:
- Hidden pictures activities e.g. Where's Wally
- Dot to dot activities
- Jigsaw puzzles
- Construction games
- Memory games
- Sorting objects
- Matching colour games
Useful links:
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