Visual perception skills refer to the skills developed from experience - relating size, shape, texture, location and distances. It allows the interpretation of what is seen.

Sight is the ability to see clearly.
Vision is the ability to use and manipulate that sight.
Visual perception is the ability to interpret and use the vision skills.

Visual Perception testing examines a child's ability to make sense of what they see, which is crucial for learning. A person may have perfect clarity of vision, but be unable to process the information to identify what they see.

A baby is not born with the ability to understand the pictures from their eyes and vision processing skills develop as the child develops. All children develop at their own pace, but a significant delay in visual perception skills will cause difficulties with school and learning. 

Some Common Symptoms of Visual Perception difficulties:

• Good with verbal information but poor with written information

• Difficulty/ delay in learning letters and sight words

• Difficulty/ delay in learning to read

• Loses place easily when reading

• Reversing letters, numbers and words (eg. b and d, 14 and 41, saw and was)

• Poor hand/ eye coordination

• Messy or poorly spaced handwriting

At Eyedeal Optometrist we can assess the visual perceptual skills of children. The test takes approximately an hour, followed by a consultation with the optometrist.