IDEA 2
Sight ‘It is remarkable how much of the day-to-day learning in a classroom requires the pupil to visually attend and to switch their visual attention between activities.’ The sense of sight, or visual sense, is essential for learning in most classrooms. It allows pupils to read the board and to look at teacher demonstrations. It helps with communication. In addition, it’s important for writing, cutting and success in the playground. The sensory input received by the vision sense is light. There are special receptors at the back of the eye, called cones and rods, which respond to light. They receive information about the colours, movement and shape of objects. This sensory input is then processed by the brain. Standard vision assessments test visual acuity. This relates to the clearness of the image the brain receives and it can be corrected with glasses. However, it is only part of the story. Some pupils might have challenges with visual discrimination or vision perception. This relates to how the pupil’s brain interprets what they are seeing. Examples include discriminating between letters (e.g. ‘b’ from ‘d’) and symbols (e.g. ‘+’ from ‘x’). These pupils will need more support to develop their visual perception. Other pupils might also have difficulty paying adequate visual attention or looking in the right place! For example, you may start demonstrating something with your hands, but they are still looking at the board. So, they miss important information. These pupils benefit from additional verbal cues of exactly where they need to be looking. Finally, some pupils have difficulty ignoring irrelevant visual information (e.g. the gardener outside). These pupils typically need visual distractions in the environment to be reduced (Idea 40).
Teaching tip Peripheral (or side) vision can be used to gain attention more quickly. Try bringing the information in from the left or right side of the pupil's face, rather than presenting it directly in front of them.
Taking it further Puzzles, matching worksheets, visual games and books like Where’s Wally? can sometimes help those who have difficulties in visual perception or discrimination, while privacy screens can be useful for those who are easily visually distracted.
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