A visual spatial deficit is the inability to interpret, organize, analyse or synthesize the spatial components of a visual message in the absence of a visual impairment.
-The student has poor handwriting or artwork.
-The student loses his or her place when reading and skips important details or figures on a page.
-The student’s reading level is below average.
-The student’s mapping or graphing abilities are weak.
-The student consistently uses a finger to keep his or her place when reading or finding a word in a composition (poor tracking).
-The student has poor skills when attempting to accurately match letters and figures incorrect spaces (e.g. letter and number matching activities in columns).
-The student has difficulty locating specific words in dictionaries or texts.
-The student’s papers are poorly organized, and information is scattered.
-The student has difficulty with depth perception and measurement.
-The student is clumsy.
-The student’s written work appears sloppy.
-The student has difficulty perceiving spaces between words and recognizing punctuation in written language.
-The student often pushes the wrong numbers on a calculator or phone.
-The student has difficulty with time conceptsor with the passage of time.
Methods/Strategies:
• Have the student use outline format or visual organizers.
• Encourage the use of a word processor.
• Have the student use coloured overlays when reading.
• Encourage cursive writing rather than manuscript to reduce reversals, inversions, etc.
• Provide strategies for organization.
• Have the student consistently use an agenda or calendar to assist in preplanning. A peer helper, volunteer or parent may assist with this task.
• Use concrete, hands-on examples whenever possible when introducing a new concept.
• Have the student use graph paper to assist in lining up numbers on apage.
• Reduce the amount of visual information the student has to absorb at one time.
• Reduce the number of assigned questions, but retain the level of difficulty.
• Use clay or other kinesthetic means when introducing letters in the early years.
Evaluation Strategies:
• Provide oral testing or a scribe.
• Allow blank visual organizers to be brought to a testing situation, and evaluate theseorganizers if not enough time is available to the student to translate the organizer to written form.
• Accept point-form answers.
• Allow calculator for math activities.
• Limit the amount of visual information presented on a test page.
• Consider alternative methods, other than a written test, of checking for understanding of a concept.