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Portrait of a Learner PK-3

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Portrait of a Learner PK-3 > Factors > Visual Processing

Visual Processing

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Hover to see how factors connect to Visual Processing. Then click connected factors to explore strategies related to multiple factors.

Visual Processing is what happens when we take the input that comes through our Vision and use cognitive processes to understand what we see. Visual Processing skills help students recognize and order visual information, allowing them to read, to correctly copy and solve problems, and represent and work with diagrams, drawings, and shapes. Learners with dyslexia or dyscalculia may demonstrate differences with their Visual Processing of words and numbers, which may stem from difficulties with Phonological Awareness, and can disrupt the process of Visual Attention.

Main Ideas

Difficulties with Visual Processing can occur even when a student has good Vision. Visual Processing impacts learning and development in multiple ways:

  • Visual Discrimination is the ability to identify different visual stimuli. This allows students to distinguish different letters, numbers and symbols and to differentiate objects from their background.
  • Visual Sequencing is the ability to determine the order of images, words, letters, numbers, or symbols.
  • Visual Motor Integration is the ability of the eyes and body to work together in a coordinated manner, which relies on both visual spatial discrimination and motor skills and supports early drawing, reading, and handwriting skills. Children's fine motor skills and visual motor integration are still developing in early childhood. Children with difficulties in this area may appear to be clumsy due to a lack of coordination between their eyes and body.
  • Visual Spatial Processing, is the ability to recognize the relation of objects in space to one another and to oneself. These Spatial Skills are important for determining the arrangement of letters, numbers, and symbols on a page and for mentally manipulating and making inferences about shapes and objects. These skills support executive functioning, and are key to developing Core Academic Literacies including science, technology, engineering, math, and the arts.

Notably, research has shown that some students may be thought to have developmental dyscalculia (DD) in early childhood, but do not meet the criteria at a later age. It is thought that this specific deficit at an early learning stage may disrupt the acquisition of later skills. Those students may instead have mathematical learning difficulties (MLD) and the associated Visual Processing challenges are instead related to delayed executive function skill development, as seen in ADHD, rather than differences in development of mechanisms for processing numerical information often present in true DD.

Educators can play a key role in supporting children's Visual Processing. For instance, use of spatial language and gesture can support spatial language and skills in young children who may not yet have the vocabulary for many spatial concepts. In addition, educators can support children's visual motor integration by including hands-on activities such as blocks and manipulatives.

View Measures and References

Research-Based Strategies For This Factor

Drawing

Encouraging young children to draw and to explain their drawings in the classroom, can support the development of Core Academic Literacies.

Explaining Their Thinking

Students explaining their thinking during learning is a metacognitive process that involves actively self-questioning or being questioned while exploring new concepts, and explaining thoughts and reasoning in response.

Read-Alouds

Read-alouds are an important part of developing young learners' foundational reading skills, and can occur both in the classroom and at home with the family, supporting the development of a strong Home Learning Environment.

Guided Inquiry

In guided inquiry, teachers can help students use their own language for constructing knowledge by active listening and questioning.

Audiobooks & E-Books

Listening comprehension and Decoding are foundational components of reading comprehension and can be supported through the use of audiobooks, digital text-to-speech books, and e-books.

Communication Boards

Communication boards are displays of graphics (e.g., pictures, symbols, illustrations) and/or words where learners can gesture, touch, or point to the displays to extend their expressive language potential.

Retrieval Practice

Retrieval practice requires students to access information, or get information “out” from Long-term memory in order to support better retention and understanding.

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