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Visual Perception Recommendations For Assessment PDF
Visual Perception Recommendations For Assessment PDF
Visual Perception
Visual perception is the ability of the brain to interpret what our eyes see. It
relies on our ability to focus our attention selectively and to screen out
irrelevant information, to match and distinguish between objects, to recognise
that despite changes in size, or orientation, objects are the same and the
ability to remember visually presented information including the order in which
it was presented.
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Visual discrimination
This is the ability to find similarities and differences between objects or written
symbols. Difficulties may arise in matching items, for example shapes, letters
for the younger child, or in discriminating between words/letters (b/d, p/q,
has/had).
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Activities for visual ground:
‘I Spy’ game which can be varied by using categories of things in the
room, i.e. round, red, wooden, small etc.
Word searches
Board games such as Snakes and Ladders, Scrabble etc.
Stickle bricks
Card games
Mazes
Dot to dot or tracing pictures
Finding letters on a keyboard
Colouring in increasingly complicated pictures or number colouring
Visual Closure
This is the ability to identify objects or forms when only partially visible, for
example when reading we can scan only part of each word, but we are able to
identify the whole word which makes reading fluent. A child with visual closure
difficulties will need to orientate to each letter rather than a word, making
reading stilted and slow. The child may then lose the meaning of what is read.
Indicators of problems:
Lack of ability to visualise
Child cannot understand word completion tasks
Child may not recognise parts of a whole/object/picture/word
Inability to complete jigsaw puzzles or block pictures
Slow at phonic skills
Reading speed very slow
Very poor at spelling names
Does not use cues in reading
Difficulty in recognising shapes or objects which are partially obscured
Unable to read writing which is done in dots or recognising dot-to-dot
pictures
May have difficulties with letter formation and problems filling in
missing letters e.g. a_r_pla_e
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Spot the difference
Construction games (Lego, Meccano, model airplanes and cars, etc).
Write a sentence and leave out a word so that the child has to write in
the correct one. Alternatively, use word games with letters: What’s
missing?
Hangman, Battleship, Noughts and Crosses
Tops or bottoms: cut some magazine pictures and paste them on
cardboard. Cut them in half vertically or horizontally and ask: Which
one matches with which? Cut into more than 2 pieces as skills improve
Visual memory
This is the ability to remember things seen visually.
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Activities to develop visual perception skills
The general activities listed here will help develop visual perception skills and
can be incorporated into lessons to benefit all pupils. They may also be
offered as activities for indoor play. They are broadly suited to primary aged
children.
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