visual perception skills

Visual perception skills are the brain’s ability to interpret and make sense of visual information from the environment. This complex process involves recognizing, organizing, and understanding what is seen, allowing individuals to navigate and interact with their surroundings effectively.

They comprise of 7 different elements including:

1.      Visual Memory

2.      Visual Sequential Memory

3.      Visual Form Constancy

4.      Visual Figure Ground

5.      Spatial Relation

6.      Visual Closure

7.      Visual Discrimination

All of these skills work together collaboratively and play a critical role in your childs' ability to read, write, draw, and even organise their room! It's one of the many underlying skills that helps build their independence within daily tasks.

Let's dive into each of them individually and find out what they are actually are!

Visual Memory: Visual memory refers to the ability to remember or recall visual information, such as objects, images, symbols, and scenes. It plays a critical role in how we process and store visual experiences in our brain, allowing us to recognise familiar faces, places, read, and navigate different environments. 

Visual Sequential Memory: Visual sequential memory is the ability to remember and recall a sequence of visual information in the order it was presented. This cognitive skill is crucial for tasks that require processing visual patterns or series of images, such as remembering the order of letters in a word, numbers in a sequence, or steps in a visual task.

Visual Form Constancy: Visual form constancy is the ability to recognise an object, shape, or symbol as being the same despite changes in size, position, orientation, or environment.  This skill allows us to understand that an object is still the same, even when viewed from different angles, under different lighting, or in different contexts.

Visual Figure Ground: Visual figure ground perception is the ability to distinguish an object (the figure) from its background (the ground). This skill helps us focus on important visual information while ignoring less relevant details in a complex environment. It is particularly useful when reading, finding objects and navigating different environments.

Spatial Relation: Spatial relation refers to the ability to understand and interpret the position of objects in space relative to oneself or other objects. It involves perceiving how objects are positioned, their orientation, distance, and direction in relation to each other. This skill is crucial for navigating environments, performing tasks, and understanding spatial patterns.

Visual Closure: Visual closure is the ability to recognise a complete object, shape, or form even when parts of it are missing or incomplete. This cognitive skill allows us to fill in visual gaps based on past experiences and visual memory, enabling us to perceive the whole picture when only part of the information is available.

And lastly, but certainly not the least...

Visual Discrimination: Visual discrimination is the ability to detect differences and similarities between objects, shapes, symbols, or patterns based on specific visual characteristics, such as size, color, shape, orientation, and detail. This skill helps us identify, compare, and categorize visual information, which is essential for everyday tasks like organisation, reading and writing.

So, what are some signs to look for if your child is having difficulty with visual perception skills? Some signs may include but are not limited to:

• Challenges with reading at an age appropriate level

• Difficulty recognising objects or forms in different contexts

• Avoiding tasks that require visual input such as drawing

• Frequently misplacing objects

• Writing with letter reversals

• Dislike engagement in games like puzzles

• Gets lost of confused in new or complex environments

• Poor recall of visual information

• Avoids visual input

It's important to note that there could be sensory and/or fine motor challenges also present with the above signs alongside visual perception.

So at this point you may be thinking, well, what can I do about it?

Here are my top resources and games you can incorporate that could build your childs' visual perception skills:

• i Spy

• Spot it

• Memory games

• Visual perception mats (available on my website @ Shop)

• Find the hidden items

• Where's Wally

• Scavenger Hunt

• Tangrams

• Puzzles

• Colour/Shape sorting games

If you're unsure if your child has difficulty with visual perception skills, please reach out to an Occupational Therapist who can provide an assessment and intervention plan for you and your family.