Visual Perception Skills

Visual perception skills are used to interpret and make sense of the visual information we receive from our environment. These skills allow us to recognize, organize, and understand visual stimuli, which allows us to interact appropriately with the world. 

It is not just seeing... IT IS our brain's ability to take in, process, and interpret visual input.

• Visual Attention
• Visual Memory
• Visual Discrimination
• Form Constancy
• Visual Closure
• Topographical Orientation
• Visual Sequential-Memory
• Figure Ground
• Spatial Relations

Additional functions and abilities include:

• Oculomotor systems (visual scanning, saccades, pursuits, etc)
• Visual fields
• Optic Nerve Function
• Acuity
• Convergence/ Divergence

VP skills are essential for a wide range of daily activities and cognitive functions such as:

Navigating the Environment

• Understanding spatial relations, depth perception, and movement aids in safely navigating, and interacting with our surroundings.

Learning and Academic Achievement

• Recognizing shapes, letters, numbers, and symbols as well as understanding spatial relations in reading and math (size, spacing, baseline adherence, & formation)

Motor Coordination

• VP supports eye-hand coordination

Safety & Independence

• Recognizing hazards and the ability to make quick decisions based on visual cues. 

Visual perceptual challenges can look like:

• Difficulty focusing on the task at hand
• Difficulty determining size, color, shape
• Trouble recalling visual traits of a form or object
• Problems with depth perception and orientation such as throwing a ball or the shape of a letter.
• Trouble recalling a sequence of something in the correct order such as the alphabet or a pattern.
• Difficulty locating something in a busy background such as finding an eraser in a pencil box.
• Trouble knowing that a shape is the same, even if it is smaller/ larger/ turned around.
• Problems recognizing an object when part of the picture is missing. 

Your child may have VP delays if they:

1. Have difficulty completing puzzles or dot to dots
2. Remembering their Left and Right
3. Can't distinguish color, shapes, numbers, letters
4. Often Reverses numbers or letters
5. Has difficulty keeping their letters on the line, correct size, and spacing. 
6. Has difficulty keeping their place when reading

Did you know?... "1 in 4 students have an undiagnosed vision problem significant enough to impact academic performance." (CLEERE survey of 2,523 students in grades 1-8)

Occupational therapists can not only help with improving a child's VP skills by using therapeutic activities, but we also have an obligation to refer out to the correct professionals.

**It is very important for all children to receive a Complete Eye Exam, including BINOCULAR VISION EXAM and dilation.** 

Screenings by a pediatrician and the school = DO NOT COUNT AS AN EYE EXAM

1. First eye exam can be completed at 6 months old! (Infantsee- AOA program)
2. Second exam at 3 years
3. 6-18 years annually

Who do I refer to?

Pediatric Developmental Optometrist with these Credentials:

1. OD, FAAO, FCOVD