Visual-Spatial Processing

A student with visual-spatial processing needs has difficulty in organizing visual information into meaningful patterns and understanding how they might change as they rotate and move through space.  They might also have difficulty with visual memory.

Indicators:

Students with visual-spatial processing needs may:

• have difficulty making visual images to “see something in the mind’s eye” or “get the picture”
• have difficulty remembering and differentiating left and right
• have difficulty in combining disconnected, vague or partially hidden visual information patterns into a meaningful whole
• have difficulty manipulating simple visual patterns or maintaining their orientation to see things in space
• have difficulty mentally manipulating objects or visual patterns to see how they would appear if altered or rotated in space
• have difficulty finding a path through a spatial field or pattern
• have difficulty in estimating or comparing visual lengths and distances without measuring them
• have difficulty understanding mathematics concepts in geometry, calculus and other higher math
• have difficulty in remembering letter formations and letter patterns
• have difficulty in reading charts, maps and blueprints and extracting the needed information
• have difficulty arranging materials in space, such as in their desks or lockers or rooms at home
• miss visual details
• have difficulty copying information from far point, like the blackboard or from near point, like texts

Instructional Strategies:

The focus of instructional strategies for students with poor visual-spatial abilities is on reducing the emphasis on visual-spatial knowledge, and emphasizing language skills.

Reduce the emphasis on visual-spatial skills for gaining knowledge and understanding:

• Reduce the number of visual displays involving manipulatives, drawings, diagrams and charts.  Replace them with clear verbal instructions.
• Do not require the student to use any visual strategies that he or she finds confusing, such as webs, diagrams, charts and schemas for math operations
• Replace copying from the blackboard with providing copies of the notes or assignments.
• When copying is required, do not require speed.  Allow extra time for the student to proofread for accuracy.
• Provide math exercises on worksheets with only a few questions and plenty of white space. Do not require the student to copy problems from the blackboard or textbook

Increase the emphasis on language for explaining concepts and procedures.

• Explain in words all new skills and concepts, and all graphics and visually-based information and tasks
• Provide the support of clear verbal instructions for tasks requiring spatial organization
• Encourage student to use verbal mediation to talk themselves through visual or spatial work
• Teach the student to use verbal mediation when copying from far point to paper, by saying each word or number or detail.

Direct Instruction of visual-spatial conventions and information:

• Teach the student to write from left to right.  Use a green for “go” margin on the left side of paper where the student begins to write.  Use a red for “stop” line at the left edge of the paper.
• Provide activities with manipulative materials, particularly in the primary grades
• Provide extra visual structure on worksheets and assignments.  Use organizers like numbered boxes, or colour codes where instructions and similar questions have the same colour.
• Provide graph paper and lined paper for completing math exercises.
• Teach the student how to interpret the organization of a page of text having an unusual format by using numbers to identify the sequence, or colours to link related information.
• Provide Direct Instruction in reading and interpreting maps, graphs, charts, and diagrams

Environmental Strategies:

• Keep work space free from extraneous distractions, by removing all visual clutter that is not necessary to the task.
• Ensure that the student clears his or her desk completely before beginning a task.  Remove all visual clutter from the work space before assembling the materials needed for the current task.

Assessment Strategies:

• Put fewer math questions on each page, with a lot of white space for calculations on math tests.
• Provide manipulative materials when testing concepts involving spatial relationships.
• Emphasize verbal and written answers, rather than charts, diagrams and maps, where possible.
• Permit students to explain spatial information from their perspective without the requirement to rotate it to the examiner’s point of regard.
• Reduce the emphasis on interpreting charts and mapping, unless that is the skill being evaluated.
• Do not penalize the student for placing information incorrectly on a page.