Visual Perceptual Skills are defined as the ability to understand and make sense of what is seen.  Visual Perceptual Skills allow us to:

• tell the difference between objects (visual discrimination)
• see the sameness between objects
• remember what we see (visual memory)
• recognize an object in spite of it's position, color or size
• pick out an object from surrounding clutter (visual figure ground)
• combine the visual skills with the motor skills for drawing or writing (visual motor integration)

• understand the position of objects in relation to oneself and/or other objects (spatial relationships)

• identify a whole figure when only fragments are presented (visual closure)

A child with visual perceptual deficits may have difficulty:

• recognizing correct positions of letters (reversals)
• finding letters or numbers than are alike
• placing letters on or between lines
• spacing between letters or words
• copying from the board
• finding assignments on blackboard
• visualizing letter or number formations
• drawing simple pictures
• staying next to the left margin on paper
• understaind that a letter is the same even if it is positioned differently
• locate a pen (or homework) in a messy desk

ACTIVITIES THAT HELP DEVELOP VISUAL PERCEPTUAL SKILLS:

• puzzles
• block patterns and designs
• "where's waldo" and "I Spy" games
• teach child to "finger space" between words if right handed.  If left handed or finger spacing is too awkward a popsicle stick or strip of thick paper can be placed between words.
• Have child use a highlighter between words until spacing becomes automatic
• "flash cards" with shapes or letters to see how many child can recall in a row
• "Memory" game
• have child "play teacher" and correct work that is done with intentional spacing, reversal or letter formation errors.