
Did you know 65% of the population are visual learners? Now, what do you do when you have a child that has vision loss in one eye, reduced peripheral vision in the other eye, BUT is STILL a visual learner? Think about that for a minute. Yes, Joseph, my son with only one “good” eye, is a visual learner. Joseph has problems with visual-spatial reasoning among other visual processing issues. As it turns out, all my children have visual-spatial problems. They all score in the 5 to 18 percentile in visual-spatial reasoning. So how does an issue with visual-spatial reasoning impact learning? I hadn’t a clue so I wrote this post to understand! Hopefully, you will find it helpful too!

McClellanda & Cameronb (2019) determined, first, both EF and motor skills help children transition to school. EF involves multiple components that are used separately and together in many classroom tasks and academic learning. Second, the evidence is strongest for the visuomotor integration aspect of fine motor skills—it predicts both literacy outcomes and mathematics . Third, EF and motor skills develop together, a relative strength in one may make up for a weakness in the other, and the association between the two skills appears stronger among younger children . Fourth, assessing EF among young children is challenging but progress is evident; assessors and researchers need to decide if they want an overall assessment or to focus on individual comp. Both direct assessments and observer ratings (especially teacher ratings) of children’s skills have the potential to provide information that can be used to support children during the transition to school. Finally, interventions can be effective although more work is clearly needed to understand the conditions where interventions would have the most success with a given group of children. Overall, EF and motor skills are foundational learning skills that develop together as children move through the early childhood years and can be fruitful targets for promoting school readiness across cognitive and academic domains.
In an 2018 article by Critten et al., she examined the relationship between children who have cerebral palsy (CP) and their mathematical abilities. The children with CP had significantly poorer mathematical and visual-spatial abilities than the neurotypical group. For the neurotypical group, age was the best predictor of mathematical abilit. In the CP group, receptive vocabulary and visual perception abilities were the best predictors of mathematical ability. The CP group had extensive difficulties with visual perception; visual short-term memory; visual reasoning; and mental rotation all of which were associated with their mathematical abilities. These findings have implications for the teaching of visual perception and visual memory skills in young children with CP as these may help the development of mathematical abilities.
Hawes et al. (2019) found spatial visualization skills were an especially strong predictor of children’s maths achievement. Current evidence suggests that numerical, spatial, and executive function (EF) skills each play critical and independent roles in the learning and performance of mathematics; however, these conclusions are largely based on isolated bodies of research and without measurement at the latent-variable level. Thus, questions remain regarding the latent structure and potentially shared and unique relations between numerical, spatial, EF, and mathematics abilities. The purpose of the current study was to (i) confirm the latent structure of the hypothesized constructs of numerical, spatial, and EF skills and mathematics achievement, (ii) measure their unique and shared relations with one another, and (iii) test a set of novel hypotheses aimed to more closely reveal the underlying nature of the oft reported space-math association. Their analytical approach involved latent-variable analyses (structural equation modeling) with a sample of 4- to 11-year-old children (N = 316, Mage = 6.68 years). Results of a confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that numerical, spatial, EF, and mathematics skills are highly related, yet separable, constructs. Follow-up structural analyses revealed that numerical, spatial, and EF latent variables explained 84% of children’s mathematics achievement scores, controlling for age; however, only numerical and spatial performance were unique predictors of mathematics achievement. The observed patterns of relations and developmental trajectories remained stable across age and grade (preschool – 4th grade). Follow-up mediation analyses revealed that numerical skills, but not EF skills, partially mediated the relation between spatial skills and mathematics achievement. Overall, their results point to spatial visualization as a unique and robust predictor of children’s mathematics achievement.
What are the signs of Visual Processing Disorder?
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Can’t match clothing, socks, or cutlery, especially when the differences are subtle
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Doesn’t noticing the similarities and differences between certain colors, shapes, and patterns
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Will not see differences between similar looking letters and words (eg b / d, b / p, 5 / S, won’t / want, car/cat)
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Will have a hard time reading maps
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Struggles to find information on a busy blackboard
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Finds it hard to copy work from the board as the child keeps losing his place when copying
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Loses his/her place on the page while reading
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Has poor dictionary skills
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Struggles with map work
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Struggles to find personal items in a cluttered place
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Cannot stay in the right place while reading a paragraph. Example: skipping lines, reading the same line over and over
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Problems reversing or misreading letters, numbers, and words
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Has difficulty understanding math equations
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Has difficulty writing within lines or margins of a piece of paper
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Struggles to copy from a board or book
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When moving around often bumps into things
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Has problems participating in sports that require well-timed and precise movements in space
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The inability to know what an object is when only parts of it are visible
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Not recognizing a picture of a familiar object from a partial image. Example: A truck without its wheels
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Misidentifying a word with a letter missing
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Not recognizing a face when one feature (such as the nose) is missing
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Difficulty getting from one place to another
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Has a problem spacing letters and words on paper
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Cannot judge time
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Reading maps and giving directions is difficult
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Difficulty in math
Who Diagnoses Visual Processing Disorders and How to Treat It?
This is hard to determine. Visual Processing Disorder is NOT a learning disability by itself. It is only a learning disability IF it interferes with the learning process. Ah, the fun of public education! If you homeschool, it is easier because you can implement the accommodations and modifications at home to see if academic function improves.
If you are looking to pursue a diagnosis, look for an ophthalmologist, vision specialist, vision therapist, or a neuropsychologist. One of these professionals should be able to run the psychometric tests needed to make a diagnosis.
There are three kinds of therapies that are important to be aware of as you’re considering ways to help your child with visual processing issues.
Optometric vision therapy: It’s important to note that there is more than one kind of vision therapy. Optometric vision therapy has been proven to help with vision problems that involve eye movements or eye alignment. These eye coordination issues are different from visual processing issues. Visual processing issues involve the way the brain processes the information the eyes take in.
Optometric vision therapy doesn’t “cure” learning and attention issues. But if your child has vision problems in addition to dyslexia and other issues, resolving vision problems can help him devote more energy to finding strategies that can help with the way his brain processes information.
Behavioral vision therapy: This is different from optometric vision therapy. Behavioral vision therapy involves eye exercises that are designed to improve visual perception. These eye exercises are also designed to improve visual processing skills. But there is no scientific research that shows this kind of therapy helps the brain process visual information. For that reason, behavioral vision therapy is considered a controversial treatment for learning and attention issues.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that it may help some children. But be wary of any treatment that claims to “cure” learning and attention issues. Learn more about how to know when a treatment is reputable.

What are appropriate accommodations or modifications?
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Use books, worksheets, and other materials with enlarged print
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Read written directions aloud. Varying teaching methods (written and spoken words; images and sounds) can help promote understanding
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Be aware of the weakness but don’t overemphasize it. While helping a child work on the weakness is important; it is just as important to build other skills and function in any setting
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Break assignments and chores into clear, concise steps. Often multiple steps can be difficult to visualize and complete
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Give examples and point out the important details of visual information (the part of a picture that contains information for a particular question)
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Provide information about a task before starting to focus attention on the activity
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Allow the student to write answers on the same sheet of paper as the questions or offer opportunities for the student to explain answers orally
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Provide paper for writing and math work that has darker or raised lines to make the boundaries more distinct
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Organize assignments to be completed in smaller steps instead of one large finished product
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Use a ruler as a reading guide (to keep the focus on one line at a time) and a highlighter (to immediately emphasize important information)
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Provide a tape recorder to supplement note-taking
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Color code important information
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Have a proof-reading buddy for all written materials including notes and essays
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Use a tape recorder when getting important information
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Before writing letters or essays, create an outline to simplify and organize ideas

Michelle Reed-Harris
CEO and Advocate
Michelle Reed-Harris is the mother of six children including surviving quadruplets. Her frustration with doctors and educators led her on a quest to learn about all the facets that touch the quads lives as children with disabilities. In the process, she gained a lot of useful information she could share with others so she started a Facebook group focusing on special education advocacy. The group quickly grew to over 6,000+ members. Recognizing the overwhelming need for assistance, she founded a nonprofit, AESA, allowing her to provide support, advice, and advocacy to parents with children who are outside the (Bell) curve.
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