I have a teenager in my class, and her IEP says “Specific Learning Disability visual perceptual.” I read terminology that is somewhat switched around and imprecise…What do you think is meant by this description?
It impacts her decoding skills, reading comprehension, written language skills, and understanding written instructions.
It means the poor kid would probably benefit from a developmental vision evaluation, vision therapy and cognitive training.
A developmental vision evaluation would determine if she has problems with visual efficiency (highly probable) — things like tracking, convergence, focusing speed, etc. If so, vision therapy would likely bring these skills up to age-appropriate levels. Once that was done, cognitive training (Audiblox and PACE are two programs) could be used to develop visual processing skills — things like directionality, visual short-term memory, visual sequencing, pattern recognition, etc.
There are some visual-spatial problems that are neurological in origin and therefore not responsive to therapy. However, most visual perception problems are related to delays in development of vision skills and are correctable with suitable intervention.
Basically, the IEP is saying that this girl cannot process visual information with enough speed and accuracy to be able to read easily, and visual-motor integration has probably been delayed too, affecting her ability to write.
You can find more information about how vision problems impact reading and learning at http://www.visiontherapy.org, http://www.vision3d.com, http://www.children-special-needs.org, and http://www.covd.org.
Mary