Improving Visual Modality

Hi Alison,

You’ve touched on something that would be interesting to parse from the predominately auditory paradigm of linguistics.

What is visual litteracy?
What did Paul Valery mean when he said, “Seeing is forgetting the name of the thing one sees.”

I can’t lead you directly to the specific therapies I think you are asking for but here are a few reference articles that may help direct and expand you inquiry.

Bill

Alexander, P.A., Jetton, T. L., (1996) The Role Of Importance and Interest in Processing Text. Educational Psychology Review; 8,1, 89-121.

Cornelissen, P., Richardson, A., Mason, A., Fowler, S., & Stein, J.. (1995). Contrast Sensitivity and Coherent Motion Detection Measured at Photopic Luminance Levels in Dyslexics and Controls. Vision Research; 35, pp.1483-1494.

Eden, G.F., Stein, J.F., Wood, H.M., & Wood, F.B.. (1994). Differences in Eye Movements and Reading Problems in Dyslexic and Normal Children. Vision Research; 34, pp.1345-1358.

Fink, G.R., Marshall, J.C, Halligan, P.W., Frith, C.D., Driver J.R., Frackowiak S.J., & Dolan R.J., (1999), The Neural Consequences of Conflict Between Intention and the Senses Brain; 122, pp.497–512.

Helenius, P, Tarkiainen, A, Cornelissen, P, Hansen, P.C. & Salmelin, R., (1999). Dissociation of Normal Feature Analysis and Deficient Processing of Letter-Strings in Dyslexic Adults; Cerebral Cortex, 9 , pp. 476-483.

Stein, J.F., Fowler, M.S. & Richardson, A., (2000). Monocular Occlusion Can Improve Binocular Control and Reading in Dyslexics. Brain; 123, pp.164 -70.

Talcott, J.B., Hansen, P.C., Assoku, E., & Stein, J.F., (2000). Visual Motion Sensitivity in Dyslexia: Evidence for temporal and energy integration deficits. Neuropsychologia; 38, 935-943. [PDF] http://www.cogneuro.ox.ac.uk/dyslexia/neuropsychologia_2000.pdf

I have poor visual imagery and have been doing a lot of work in this area. I’m in vision therapy and have also developed some ways of working on my own. I use computer maj jong games for visual discrimination. I use those with a variety of tile sets, so that I can practice varied discriminations. I find the game “Rivers” most useful. In order to match tiles quickly, some visual memory is involved.

I’ve recently started working with sign language programs. I’m trying to identify signs, not to reproduce them. I’m doing this to work on visual movement patterns.

I’ve tried Concentration type games, but find these too frustrating.

One problem that I have is not being able to see faces clearly. Sometimes I’ll see part of a face, but not the whole.

In vision therapy, I’ll be given a pattern to memorize. I can visualize parts, but not the whole. Has anyone had experience in learning to put the parts together to visualize the whole?

I missed taging this article on the previous list -It’s references will give you a lot more leads.

from abstract:
” With the recent revival of visual approaches at the forefront of several scientific, mathematical and technological developments, this paper proposes that visually oriented dyslexics may be in an increasingly favorable position in future years…”

West, T. G., (1992) A Future of Reversals: Dyslexic Talents in a World of Computer Visualization. Annals of Dyslexia, vol. 42, p. 125-139.

Vision therapy is said to improve visual processing skills but it is a controversial treatment because so far, the research does not support its efficacy. That does not necessarily mean that it won’t help, it only means that there is no reliable proof at this point that it is helpful for most people with visual processing issues. Some people have related very positive personal experiences with this kind of therapy. That kind of anecdotal evidence is not nearly as reliable as evidence gained via well-controlled double blind studies with an adequate sample size, but it is something to take into account. Those considering vision therapy should consider all sides of the issue before investing in it.

Andrea

Regarding vision as you know, children and adults should have their vision checked by an eye doctor and if correction glasses are needed to acquire those eyeglasses.

There are a handful of quite striking cases involving ADHD where the right medicine (a central nervous system stimulant/alerting agent) can have a very surprising yet temporary positive impact upon the visual modality including aspects of visual memory.

Hi Allison,

My son is the opposite of what you described. He has poor visual data skills but can visualize concepts very well. He has excellent comprehension but doesn’ t do as well in math and though he can read fairly well he tires easily complaining of headaches and moving print. He does have eye tracking issues.

There are several programs out there that deal with visual processing. As was explained to me recently, if the vision is impaired there is no point addressing the processing because processing is what the brain does with the information it receives, but it can’t receive it well if the vision is impaired.
So these programs deal with visual processing once you have decided that the vision is intact.
Lindamood bell has three programs that each deal work to improve visualization.
Seeing stars deals with what the LMB folks call symbol imagery specificly related to reading and spelling. (My son’s problem.)
Visualizing and Verbalizing deals with conceptual imagery which helps to improve reading comprehension.
I am not familar with cloud nine but I think it is like seeing stars but for math.

Other programs that deal with visual processing are PACE and Audiblox. Pace is done at centers and is fairly expensive. Audiblox is done at home and is much cheaper. The PACE people do have a cheaper in home version but I forget what it is called.

To confuse an already complex matter even more; some children have sensory integration issues that can affect their vision. If the child is clumsy, sensitive to touch or constantly seeking out what is called proprioceptive input through movement or deep pressure, SI should be considered. Some vision therapists do not do exercises that address these needs as to not step on the territory of occupational therapists (from whom they get referrals.) I think that if SI is part of the problem you will have a bad vision therapy experience if it is not dealt with.
I found a vision therapist that deals with sensory integration issues and will be sending my son for an evaluation in January. (Have to wait for the new insurance to kick in.)

I agree that working on attention improves vision but it also goes that improving vision will help attention. (If poor vision is causing the child to tune out certain input because it is too much work.) It is a what came first the chicken or the egg sort of thing.
PS. My son has wonderful auditory attention and no auditory processing difficulties. He has trouble paying attention to the visual details on a page.

LD Online has posted an article from the National Association of School Psychologists regarding sensory integration disorders and therapies that are meant to adress them. The gist of it is that so far, there is no reliable information supporting the conclusion that SI therapy is effective for most people. You can find the article in the “What’s New” section or at http://www.nasponline.org/publications/cq312si.html Again, this does not necessarily mean that the therapy won’t be helpful for a particular individual, even if it is not helpful for most, but it does mean that the potential benefits and costs should be weighed before going down that road.

Andrea

To clarify, this was the position of one person who presented at the NASP conference rather than the opinion of the NASP.

This person also says that brain plasiticity is a myth. Any psychologist should be up to date on the fact that there is significant scientific evidence that neural pathways can change, with the latest evidence supporting the idea that these changes occur well into adulthood. Sadly, my experience with school psychs has lead me to believe that they as a group remain in the dark on this issue. Most don’t believe that children can overcome their disabilities but instead need sped for the rest of their school career.

This is an interesting article by NASA that discusses the vestibular/visual relationship and work that they are doing to study this phenomona. http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/sa/sd/facility/abs/neuroscience/neuro.htm

If that link doesn’t work just type vestibular visual into google.

Why would NASA be studying something that doesn’t exist?

Back again…

Linda F., Alison et al.,

Linda,
After reading your descriptions of your childs visual experience I double checked Prof. John Stein of Oxford University Physiology lab web site for a pdf file for the monocular occlusion study (Andria you might like the longitudinal statistical methods [9.4 months] as well as the sample size [143 randomly assigned])… ;)

To imagine that sensory integration is unfounded would be as though we couldn’t relate a smell to a taste, or a color as being warm or cold… It would be a horrible world of serial processing without contextual connection.

Though I also suspect that some folks may/will subvert good science for a quick buck by excerpting a part of the research that is going on to whip up a snazy easy cure all… i.e. can someone validate the “Eye Q” gizmo that is “As seen on TV.?“

Just food for thought..

Alison,
I believe you’ll find something in these readings that relate to one or more sensory compensations that pick up where a weaker yet predominant sense such as vision falls out. Proprioceptive contextual attention and cognitive feedback is a fascinating area to look into.

The UK along with several US schools seem to be doing quite a bit of quantifiable research in this field.

Bill

Stein JF, Richardson AJ, Fowler MS (2000) Monocular Occlusion can Improve Binocular Control and
Reading in Dyslexics. Brain, 123, 164-70.
http://www.physiol.ox.ac.uk/~jfs/pdf/lrrbrain2000.pdf

Check into:
Steins Lab:
Sensorimotor Control Lab led by Professor John Stein & Dr. Chris Miall
http://www.physiol.ox.ac.uk/Research_Groups/Stein_Miall/

And….
Angela Fawcett Rod Nicolson‘s work at:
The Cognitive Neuroscience Research Centre at the University of Sheffield.

http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/academic/N-Q/psology/research/lrg/dyslexia/
http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/academic/N-Q/psology/research/cnrc/index.html

>Back to Oxford…

The Multisensory Research Group University Laboratory of Physiology and the Centre for
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain at the University of Oxford.
http://www.physiol.ox.ac.uk/Research_Groups/Multisensory/

OXFORD DYSLEXIA UNIT: Neurophysiological Bases of Dyslexia
“We are interested in trying to understand more about the neurophysiological problems which commonly affect people with dyslexia, particularly the auditory and visual physiology that may
underlie them.“
http://www.cogneuro.ox.ac.uk/dyslexia/

Also check:

The Dyslexia Research Trust: for several other articles by scientists that are using credible methods to run their studies.
http://www.dyslexic.org.uk/Publications/publications.html#2000

Bill,
Thank you so much! Prof Stein’s work is amazing. It is as if he is talking specificly about my son.

Interestingly, we have recently started fixation exercises. I will look into the monocular occlusion if these don’t work.

Linda

I had a lot of difficulty with visual discrimation and still do, but not nearly as severe as when I was younger. But the time my visual discrimation abilites had greatly improved. I don’t know if this is common for it to improve with age, though I heard of other cases like my self.