Visual Processing Deficit

 Visual Processing Deficit

What is it? Visual Processing is the ability to interpret and understand what you see.   If you are Visual Processing Deficit, you have the inability to interpret or analyze any messages coming to you in a visual manner. Characteristics of the disability/exceptionality Some of the common characteristics of this disability: ·         “The student is inattentive to visual tasks and can be easily distracted by too much visual stimuli (e.g. brightly colored posters, or too much clutter in the classroom). ·         The student has difficulty copying from the board, test paper, calculator or textbook to the student’s own paper. ·         The student’s written copy may show missing figures or words, reversals, inversions, additions, deletions, or transpositions in letters or numbers. ·         The student rubs his or her eyes or complains that his or her eyes are bothering him or her. The eyes may be bothered  because of the intensity needed to decipher the visual material. ·         The student’s reading level is below average. ·         The student’s oral reading comprehension is better than his or her silent reading comprehension. ·         In math, the student is inattentive to function signs, omits steps in a formula, or confuses visually similar formulas. ·         The student is a poor written speller, but is an adequate oral speller. ·         The student’s directionality is weak, and the student gets lost in unknown places, often copies numbers reversed, inverted or transposed from the original.” ( Resource 1) Other Basic Accommodations: • “Reduce the amount of visual information on a page. • Have the student use graph paper to assist him or her in lining up the numbers properly. • Highlight or underline important phrases in the student’s assigned reading. • Have the student consistently use a word processor for written work. • Reduce distracting visual stimuli in the classroom. • Provide copied notes. • Have the student use a sliding mask, finger, or ruler when reading. • Be aware of the difficulty associated with visual tasks such as matching” (Resource 1). Resources for additional information Article 1. Resource for the Identification and Teaching of Students with Specific Learning Disability, Department of Education, New Brunswick, NJ: Nov. 1999. Websites to check out: 2.http://www.ldonline.org/article/Visual_Processing_Disorders%3A_In_Detail 3. http://www.ncld.org/ld-basics/related-issues/information-processing/visual-processing-disorders-by-age-group

Misconceptions about the disability/exceptionality While it has the word vision in it, being Visual Processing Deficit is not just about what you are able to see.  It may start with your vision where you are able to see, but that is where the commonalities stop.  Once your eyes take the image in, it goes to your brain and that is where it is interpreted. This processing is a developmental skill just like your fine motor skills. If it is not developed properly or is not as strong, students may feel challenged by a “simple” problem like 1+2.  These misconceptions might affect the teacher and learning of students through teachers focus on the word “Visual”.  If you just focus on making print bigger that does not solve the problem of how the students are interpreting and processing the information (see the next section for how to accommodate these students). Accommodations for individual student In my classroom (third grade), we do not have any students who have been tested an/or labeled as Visual Processing deficit, but I watch students when they are copying off the board I’m constantly watching my students as well as when they are solving a page of math problems. Two students in particular stand out.  One student really struggles to copy off the board.  He misses letters and sometimes whole words.  For him we have begun to print out what is expected to be copied so he can have it one-on-one in front of him.  This way he is able to complete the problems.  The other student is currently struggling in math with keeping her math problems organized.  When we were working on two digit subtraction, this students (along with a few others) were given graph paper to complete these problems.  While she still struggled with regrouping, she could now clearly see where the numbers were and what place value they were in so they were properly aligned. Curricular modifications • “Assign fewer questions, but retain the level of difficulty given to an assignment. • Allow for extra time for written tasks. • Allow the use of a calculator for math-related activities. • Use a scribe when necessary to record answers and for testing. • Provide oral testing. • Be aware of the visual difficulty of particular test questions. • Provide a model or example where possible” (Resource 1). For one of the students mentioned above where he struggles to copy of the board, he has poor spelling, complains that his eyes hurt frequently,  and his oral comprehension is significantly better that his reading comprehension we already have some modifications in place even though he is not diagnosed as having any sort of Visual Processing Deficit. We are currently scribing the answers to his reading comprehension questions so he is saying them orally after listening to the story and we are scribing what he says.  Our classroom also reads all end of story comprehension tests to students and I model all math questions, test and practice for students to get a visual of what I’m expecting/doing.

Two ways to try and put yourself in their shoes:

Method 1: Try and read the following passage:   Answer Key: Do you remember the story of the Three Billy Goat’s Gruff? There was a big billy goat, a middle size billy goat, and a little one. When they wanted some nice green grass, they would walk across the bridge to a field where the grass was tall and green. But guess who lived under the bridge? Yes, it was a troll.

Method 2: Have out a piece of paper and a pencil. Write the following words in cursive with your non-dominant hand. ·         Cow ·         Orange ·         Flag ·         Bed ·         Exit Then try writing it upside down with your non-dominant hand.  Lastly write it with your dominant hand as you would regularly and note the difference. How hard was it to write in cursive with your non-dominant hand?  How about upside down with your non-dominant hand?

Both methods are quite challenging aren’t they?  That’s how students who have this visual processing disorder feel when they try and complete what we feel are basic everyday tasks.