This week we have discussed the visual processing skills of visual discrimination, visual figure-ground discrimination, visual sequencing, visual motor functioning, and visual memory.
Today, we are looking at a 5th visual processing skill… Visual Closure.
What is that?
What did you eat for dinner one week ago today?
Like most people, you probably can’t remember.
If I had asked you the same question 5 minutes after leaving the table, you would, most likely, have been able to answer accurately.
I walked into TJ’s first grade class to pick him up for his speech-language therapy session.
“Come take a look, Ms. Callender,” said his teacher.
“Show Ms. Callender what you’ve done!”
Throughout my childhood and teenage years, my nickname was “bookworm.”
I devoured books. It seemed.
Every Friday, after her weekly shopping, my mom would go to the Christian bookstore and buy me a book. I read this, in addition to the ones I borrowed from the library.
Oh the dreams I had… the places I went… the people I met.
But I had one problem.
If your child cannot distinguish a shape or a printed character from its background, she is having trouble with visual figure-ground discrimination.
Yesterday, we looked at visual discrimination. Today, we’re going to take a brief look at this slightly different visual processing skill.
How can you tell your child is having this kind of dilemma?
Mrs. Smith walked into my office.
“Johnny said you want to talk to me about his visual processing.
“What does visual processing have to do with learning?
“My child can see…he passed his vision test and has 20/20 vision.”
“Excellent!” I responded, “Now let me clarify my message.”
Our modern conveniences and products make our lives easier to manage, but have you ever considered that they might impact on our health?
“How was school today?”
“Good.” (monotone)
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.” (same monotone)
“Wow! You spent 6 hours doing nothing?”
“Oh mom!” (melodramatic sigh)
If you’ve been around the educational scene for any length of time you would have heard these statistics:
Every evening, Johnny sits at the dining table to do his homework. Nearby, the goldfish are frolicking in the fish tank. He watches their bodies glisten as the light hits them.
“That’s fascinating!” he thinks.
He’s intrigued.