In an effort to better equip parents and teachers with the knowledge to identify difficulties with visual perception, Visual Learning for Life has compiled a list of some of the mistakes a child may make due to visual perceptual difficulties when completing their schoolwork.
This checklist is no substitution for a professional assessment before a programme is begun. Before an individual is to achieve their maximum potential on any of these worksheets, a comprehensive baseline vision assessment needs to take place. A vision care professional will be able to help you with an assessment of this nature. You must rule out significant refractive errors (does the child need glasses), focusing difficulties, eye teaming problems, and a lack of ocular motor control. These are the basic acquisition skills necessary to gather visual information in the most efficient manner. If visual efficiency is limited then visual perceptual achievement will also be hindered.
Please check the boxes of the statements that apply to your child. Every box must be scored with either yes, no or not applicable. This is very important in order for the scores to be calculated as accurately as possible. If you are not sure you have observed a particular point or your child hasn't had to tackle a certain academic task yet due to their age, please mark that point as "not applicable." This checklist contains 120 points and will take about 10-15 minutes to complete.
A report will be formulated for you at the end of the checklist to help you identify which of the 10 visual perceptual areas your child may be struggling with. These areas are Form Constancy, Figure Ground, Position in Space, Spatial Relationships, Visual Discrimination, Visual Closure, Visual Analysis and Synthesis, Visual Memory, Visual Sequential Memory and Visual Motor Integration.
Please note that this is NOT a diagnostic tool but serves as a guide to help you select the visual perceptual worksheets that are best suited to helping your child.