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Literacy PK-3

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Literacy PK-3 > Factors > Visual Processing

Visual Processing

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Visual Processing allows us to understand what we see and is essential for literacy. Visual Processing skills help students recognize and order visual information, allowing them to develop into quick, accurate readers and writers. Learners with dyslexia may demonstrate differences with the Visual Processing of words, often stemming from difficulties with Phonological Awareness, which can disrupt the process of directing Attention to and Decoding words.

Main Ideas

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

  • Visual discrimination is the ability to identify different visual stimuli. During reading, this allows students to distinguish different letters.
  • Visual sequencing is the ability to determine the order of images, words, or symbols, and visual spatial processing is the ability to recognize the relation of objects in space to one another and to oneself. During reading, these are important for determining the arrangement of words on a page.
  • Visual motor skills are the bridge between visual perception and fine motor skills, and contribute to Handwriting Skills in early writers. Similarly, these skills support the development of Foundational Writing Skills.

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