Visual Perceptual Area Definitions - Visual Discrimination
Visual Discrimination forms the foundation for matching and sorting skills. Children use the following attributes to identify differences and distinguish between objects in their environment amongst other things: colour, form, shape, pattern, size, and position.
A child will firstly learn to discriminate between real objects. In other words, they can tell you how the objects are alike and how they are different by actually touching and holding them. For instance, recognizing the difference between two similarly sized or shaped fruits such as an apple and pear.
They will then start to discriminate on a more abstract level between symbols such as shapes. Such as when shown a circle and a square the child can describe how the shapes are alike and how they are different. Finally, the child will begin to discriminate between much more abstract symbols such as letters and numbers. Visual Discrimination difficulties result in general letter/number confusion when reading and writing.