LD 20 yr old wants to inprove spacial skills

There are different kinds of spatial skills, so I’m not sure exactly what you are looking for.

http://www.criticalthinking.com has two workbooks on “Visual Perceptual Skill Building” that work on the basics of visual-spatial reasoning. Answers are in the back, but the answers are not explained, so you might need to consult with someone if you cannot figure out why an answer is wrong.

Critial Thinking Press also offers “Building Thinking Skills - Figural”, which works on visual-spatial reasoning skills, including similarities, sequences, classifications and figural analogies. For this one you would need to get the teacher’s manual in order to get the answer key.

Balametrics (http://www.balametrics.com ) works on developing spatial awareness on the physical level. It would be helpful to have someone watch you and critique your form in the exercises, but otherwise you could probably do this on your own. It would require persistence on your part, though, and enough physical area to be able to set up the equipment.

Some difficulties with spatial skills arise from developmental vision delays, which are often not diagnosed. See http://www.childrensvision.com for more information. A complete developmental vision evaluation (which includes many more tests than in a regular eye exam) costs about $170 where we are. You can find board-certified optometrists in your area at http://www.covd.org .

Nancy

I need info on, how does depth perception/spacial skills relate to not being able to draw a topigraphical layout (of what it doesn’t realy matter but it was a classroom).

Well, depth perception is what allows us to see in 3-D. I’m not sure what kind of map you are talking about. A flat map requires mapping a 3-dimensional surface onto 2 dimensions. This requires a wide variety of spatial skills which are likely to be lacking in someone who does not see in 3 dimensions.

A topographical map is a miniaturized 3-D version of the physical world. If a person can’t visually perceive 3 dimensions — which is the case with someone who lacks depth perception — then recreating 3 dimensions in miniature is going to be challenging. The only spatial skills this person can call upon will be derived from kinesthetic and auditory experiences of dimensionality (touch and sound). The lack of visual experience is a real handicap.

If depth perception is the problem, I would recommend getting a developmental vision evaluation to find out if vision therapy would be likely to correct it.

You might want to go to http://www.google.com and run some searches on “depth perception” “spatial skills” “spatial cognition”. I did this, and there is a lot of research in this area, but it may provide more information than you can use.

Nancy

What kind of map? One of my high school, I’ve been their 6 years now. 1 year ago we whent to school around the building of the new high school here. Can I read the map this year? No! By the way I have had vision therepy & eye surgery because I had a lazy eye. My depth perception isn’t any better (20/400 - it means what someone sees clearly at 400 feet away, I can see clearly at 20 feet).