My 9 yr old daughter was just diagnosed with a visual processing disorder. They have put an IEP into place to assist with her math and to make suggestions about limiting distractions, breaking tasks into parts, and keeping her in the center of activity so she doesn’t get sidetracked.
My question is about the visual processing. Where can I get information about “treating” it and does anyone have personal experiences to share with me?
Re: Visual Processing Disorder
She did very well on the auditory portions of the testing and her verbal processing, working memory and processing speed results were all fine.
She does sometimes confuse left and right, and she has I suppose average coordination. I can’t remember all that you asked specifically, but I can tell you she does not write neatly, usually dipping off as she moves from left to right across the page. She has never liked puzzles of any kind and has struggled with learning her guitar fingerings. Her reading has always been her biggest problem, until this and we find out that math is actually her weakest overall area. Though her reading was low, it wasn’t nearly as low as her math or writing scores.
Visual Processing Disorder
It sounds like she might need OT/PT to help with some of her issues. Knowing where your body is in space can greatly help some of these issues. (Confusion of left/right, handwriting, finger coordination.)
She may also benefit from visual therapy. This may help with the reading if she is having difficulty tracking. A screening for Irlen Sydrome may also be helpful. http://www.irlen.com
Both of my children have visual issues. My son benefitted a lot from vision therapy. My dd has benefitted from Irlen Syndrome therapy and gymnastics. The IS therapy helped a great deal with her ability to visually track and read. Gymnastics helped with overall body coordination, left/right issue and greatly improved her handwriting.
Hi Reneep,
I run a Forum for the maths disorder Dyscalculia, where Visual-Spatial Dyscalculia is the main sub-type.
Where you can find some information about visual processing disorder.
Where you need to get a clearer idea of her VP difficulties?
Though one thing I would ask, is about her Spatial processing, as this can be associated with it.
Does she have good ‘physical coordination’?
Can she catch a ball easily, and judge distances well?
Does she have a problem with left and right?
Where these suggest a Spatial processing difficulty.
Visual processing in isolation, refers to the ability to effectively use Visualising, and picture images in our mind.
Where in terms of math, it involves visualising numbers.
Though this operates at different levels, where at its simplest level for example, can you ‘look at the following number, then look away and retain an image of number in your mind/ mind’s eye?
274
Then another level, is the verbal/ visual relationship, where if you read the following number, can you convert it into a ‘mental image of the number?
Three hundred and eighty five.
Though, Mental Maths, is far more complex, as it involves ‘mentally manipulating’ the numbers in our Mind’s eye.
So what I’m getting at, is that you need to get an idea of what her current visual processing abilities are, so that you can identify what to address?
Where you maybe able to use some simple exercises to help her develop her visual processing skills?
Though I would also mention that typically visual processing disorder is accompanied by exceptional Auditory Processing abilities.
So you might like to have a look at my Forum?
http://www.dyscalculiaforum.com/
Geoff,