Visual Acuity vs. Visual Perceptual Skills
Has your child had an eye exam or a vision screening? The earlier a child is screened for vision concerns, the less likely a visual concern will impact learning but according to the American Optometric Association, fewer than 15% of preschool aged children receive an eye exam by a professional. And even when children are scorned for visual deficits, most likely anything other than visual acuity problems will be missed.
Visual acuity is how clearly a child or adult sees. If a child is able to read the letters on a simple eye chart then they most likely will pass a vision screen. But there is so much more to our vision than that! Visual Perceptual skills refer to how our brains understand the image sent to it from our eyes. Once the image is understood, we are able to respond to the image appropriately.
Visual perceptual skills are developed in a hierarchy and help us to understand and respond to information in our environment. According to Warren’s Hierarchical Model of Visual Processing the first visual skill needed for learning is Registration of Visual Input. This is where visual acuity contributes to visual processing. Oculomotor skills and visual fields are needed as well.
The second visual skill in Warren’s Hierarchy is pattern recognition. This includes visual problem solving and visually predicting what comes next.
The third skill in Warren’s Hierarchy is Visual Memory, (an important part of working memory) which is the ability to retain visual information to be able to recognize, shapes, patterns and details and to be able to match items, identify similarities and differences and to figure out what an object is when only part of that object is seen, kind of like finding the scissors in the junk drawer!
The last skill in Warren’s Hierarchy is Visual Cognition. Being able to combine acuity, pattern recognition and visual memory allow learning to occur through visual input. There are multiple subskills that fall into this category such as form constancy, sequential memory and visual discrimination.
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https://www.aoa.org/news/inside-optometry/aoa-news/championing-childrens-eye-care
