Return to References: Visual Processing factor page.
Numerous measures exist to gain a full picture of a student's learning strengths and challenges. Following are examples of measures used to assess this Learner Factor. These measures should be administered and interpreted by experienced professionals.
Computer-Based Vision Tasks: (Boros et al., 2016): Ask students to remember or respond to the spatial position or a specific visual characteristic of either letters, digits, or non-linguistic symbols (this is often important to include so language skills do not impact scores)
Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration: (Beery et al., 2010): Geometric design copying task, starting off with simple forms (e.g. a vertical line) and increasingly becoming more complex (e.g. a 3D star)
Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (ROCF): (Rey, 1941): Evaluates Visual Spatial Processing and memory for visual-spatial information.
Assel, M. A., Landry, S. H., Swank, P., Smith, K. E., & Steelman, L. M. (2003). Precursors to mathematical skills: Examining the roles of visual-spatial skills, executive processes, and parenting factors. Applied Developmental Science, 7(1), 27-38.
Atit, K., Power, J. R., Veurink, N., Uttal, D. H., Sorby, S., Panther, G., ... & Carr, M. (2020). Examining the role of spatial skills and mathematics motivation on middle school mathematics achievement. International Journal of STEM Education, 7, 1-13
Barnhardt, C., Borsting, E., Deland, P., Pham, N., & Vu, T. (2005). Relationship between visual-motor integration and spatial organization of written language and math. Optometry and Vision Science, 82(2), 138–43.
Bedny, M., Richardson, H., & Saxe, R. (2015). “Visual” cortex responds to spoken language in blind children. Journal of Neuroscience, 35(33), 11674-11681.
Berchicci, M., Pontifex, M. B., Drollette, E. S., Pesce, C., Hillman, C. H., & Di Russo, F. (2015). From cognitive motor preparation to visual processing: The benefits of childhood fitness to brain health. Neuroscience, 298, 211-219.
Boros, M., Anton, J. L., Pech-Georgel, C., Grainger, J., Szwed, M., & Ziegler, J. C. (2016). Orthographic processing deficits in developmental dyslexia: Beyond the ventral visual stream. NeuroImage, 128, 316-327.
Bosse, M. L., Chaves, N., Largy, P., & Valdois, S. (2015). Orthographic learning during reading: The role of whole‐word visual processing. Journal of Research in Reading, 38(2), 141-158.
Carames, C. N., Irwin, L. N., & Kofler, M. J. (2022). Is there a relation between visual motor integration and academic achievement in school-aged children with and without ADHD? Child Neuropsychology, 28(2), 224-243.
Crottaz-Herbette, S., Anagnoson, R. T., & Menon, V. (2004). Modality effects in verbal working memory: differential prefrontal and parietal responses to auditory and visual stimuli. Neuroimage, 21(1), 340-351.
Dehaene, S., Cohen, L., Morais, J., & Kolinsky, R. (2015). Illiterate to literate: Behavioural and cerebral changes induced by reading acquisition. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 16(4), 234-244.
Dunn, W. (1997). The impact of sensory processing abilities on the daily lives of young children and their families: A conceptual model. Infants & Young Children, 9(4), 23-35.
Facoetti, A., Paganoni, P., Turatto, M., Marzola, V., & Mascetti, G. G. (2000). Visual-spatial attention in developmental dyslexia. Cortex, 36(1), 109-123.
Feagans, L. V., & Merriwether, A. (1990). Visual discrimination of letter-like forms and its relationship to achievement over time in children with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 23(7), 417-425.
Goldstand, S., Koslowe, K. C., & Parush, S. (2005). Vision, visual-information processing, and academic performance among seventh-grade schoolchildren: A more significant relationship than we thought? American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 59(4), 377-389.
Greenberg, A., Bellana, B., & Bialystok, E. (2013). Perspective-taking ability in bilingual children: Extending advantages in executive control to spatial reasoning. Cognitive Development, 28(1), 41-50.
Gruber, R., Laviolette, R., Deluca, P., Monson, E., Cornish, K., & Carrier, J. (2010). Short sleep duration is associated with poor performance on IQ measures in healthy school-age children. Sleep Medicine, 11(3), 289-294.
Hodgkiss, A., Gilligan, K. A., Tolmie, A. K., Thomas, M. S., & Farran, E. K. (2018). Spatial cognition and science achievement: The contribution of intrinsic and extrinsic spatial skills from 7 to 11 years. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 88(4), 675-697.
Huguet, P., & Regner, I. (2007). Stereotype threat among schoolgirls in quasi-ordinary classroom circumstances. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(3), 545.
James, K. H. (2010). Sensori‐motor experience leads to changes in visual processing in the developing brain. Developmental Science, 13(2), 279-288.
Kaefer, T. (2018). The role of topic‐related background knowledge in visual attention to illustration and children's word learning during shared book reading. Journal of Research in Reading, 41(3), 582-596.
Kulp, M. T. (1999). Relationship between visual motor integration skill and academic performance in kindergarten through third grade. Optometry & Vision Science, 76(3), 159-163.
Lack, D. (2010). Another joint statement regarding learning disabilities, dyslexia, and vision—A rebuttal. Optometry-Journal of the American Optometric Association, 81(10), 533-543.
Levine, S. C., Goldin‐Meadow, S., Carlson, M. T., & Hemani‐Lopez, N. (2018). Mental transformation skill in young children: The role of concrete and abstract motor training. Cognitive Science, 42(4), 1207-1228.
Lobier, M., Zoubrinetzky, R., & Valdois, S. (2012). The visual attention span deficit in dyslexia is visual and not verbal. Cortex, 48(6), 768-773.
Mazzocco, M. M., & Myers, G. F. (2003). Complexities in identifying and defining mathematics learning disability in the primary school-age years. Annals of Dyslexia, 53, 218-253.
Mäki, H. S., Voeten, M. J., Vauras, M. M., & Poskiparta, E. H. (2001). Predicting writing skill development with word recognition and preschool readiness skills. Reading and Writing, 14(7), 643-672.
Mayer, D., Sodian, B., Koerber, S., & Schwippert, K. (2014). Scientific reasoning in elementary school children: Assessment and relations with cognitive abilities. Learning and Instruction, 29, 43-55.
McCoy, D. C., Roy, A. L., & Raver, C. C. (2016). Neighborhood crime as a predictor of individual differences in emotional processing and regulation. Developmental Science, 19(1), 164-174.
Mesquita, S., & Martins, P. C. (2022). Social information-processing in children with adverse experiences. Trauma Care, 2(2), 162-173.
Pieters, S., Desoete, A., Roeyers, H., Vanderswalmen, R., & Van Waelvelde, H. (2012). Behind mathematical learning disabilities: What about visual perception and motor skills? Learning and Individual Differences, 22(4), 498–504.
Price, G. R., & Ansari, D. (2013). Dyscalculia: Characteristics, causes, and treatments. Numeracy, 6(1), 2.
Sigmundsson, H., Hansen, P. C., & Talcott, J. B. (2003). Do ‘clumsy' children have visual deficits. Behavioural Brain Research, 139(1-2), 123-129.
Sortor, J. M., & Kulp, M. T. (2003). Are the results of the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration and its subtests related to achievement test scores? Optometry & Vision Science, 80(11), 758-763.
Spliethoff, L., Li, S. C., & Dix, A. (2022). Incentive motivation improves numerosity discrimination in children and adolescents. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 10038.
Sulik, M. J., Haft, S. L., & Obradović, J. (2018). Visual-motor integration, executive functions, and academic achievement: concurrent and longitudinal relations in late elementary school. Early Education and Development, 29(7), 956-970.
Treisman, A. (1986). Features and objects in visual processing. Scientific American, 255(5), 114B-125.
Tseng, M. H., & Chow, S. M. (2000). Perceptual-motor function of school-age children with slow handwriting speed. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 54(1), 83-88.
Valdois, S. (2022). The visual-attention span deficit in developmental dyslexia: Review of evidence for a visual attention-based deficit. Dyslexia 1-19.
Volman, M. J. M., van Schendel, B. M., & Jongmans, M. J. (2006). Handwriting difficulties in primary school children: A search for underlying mechanisms. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 60(4), 451-460.
Ziegler, J. C., Pech‐Georgel, C., Dufau, S., & Grainger, J. (2010). Rapid processing of letters, digits and symbols: What purely visual‐attentional deficit in developmental dyslexia? Developmental Science, 13(4), F8-F14.