Introduction
There are many symptoms that may indicate problems in a certain perceptual or learning areas. Some of these are observable, while others are discovered through intakes and testing. What follows is a list of symptoms that may reflect perceptual disabilities in a variety of visual areas. These will provide parents with the language necessary to communicate concerns or labels to identify the conditions already indicated by the behavior of their children.
General Visual Perceptual Problems– The student:
- Exhibits poor motor coordination
- Is awkward motorically-frequent tripping, stumbling, bumps into things, has trouble skipping,
jumping
- Demonstrates restlessness, short attention span, perseveration
- Exhibits poor handwriting, artwork, drawing
- Exhibits reversals of b,d,p,q,u,n when writing beyond a chronological age of 7 or 8
- Inverts numbers (17 for 71), reverses as well
- Gives correct answers when teacher reads test, but can’t put answers down on paper
- Exhibits poor performance in group achievement tests
- Appear brighter than test scores indicate
- Poor perception of time and space.
Visual-Receptive Process Disability– The student:
- Does not enjoy books, pictures
- Fails to understand what is read
- Is unable to give a simple explanation of contents of a picture
- Is unable to categorize pictures
Visual-Association Disability– The student:
- Is unable to tell a story from pictures; can only label objects in the pictures
- Is unable to understand what he or she reads
- Fails to handle primary workbook tasks
- Needs auditory cues and clues
Manual-Expressive Disability–The student:
- Has poor handwriting and drawing
- Communicates infrequently with gestures
- Is poor at “acting out” ideas, feelings
- Is clumsy, uncoordinated
- Plays games poorly; can’t imitate other children in games
Visual-Memory Disability– The student:
- Exhibits frequent misspellings, even after undue practice
- Misspells his own name frequently
- Can’t write alphabet, numbers, computation facts
- Identifies words one day and fails to the next
Diagnostic Symptoms for Auditory Perceptual Disabilities
What follows is a list of symptoms that may reflect perceptual disabilities in a variety of auditory areas.
General Auditory Perceptual Indicators- The student:
- Appears less intelligent than IQ tests indicate
- Does many more things than one would expect: puts puzzles together, fixes broken objects,
and so on
- Appears to have a speech problem
- May emphasize wrong syllables in words
- May sequence sounds oddly
- May use “small words” incorrectly
- Appears not to listen or comprehend
- Watches teacher’s or adult’s faces intently, trying to grasp words
Auditory Receptive Process Disability– The student:
- Fails to comprehend what he or she hears
- Exhibits poor receptive vocabulary
- Fails to identify sounds correctly
- Fails to carry out directions
Auditory Association Disability– The student:
- Fails to enjoy being read to him by someone else
- Has difficulty comprehending questions
- Raises hand to answer question but gives foolish response
- Is slow to respond; takes a long time to answer
- Has difficulty with abstract concepts presented auditorily
Verbal Expressive Disability– The student:
- Mispronounces common words
- Uses incorrect word endings and plurals
- Omits correct verbal endings
- Makes grammatical or syntactical errors that do not reflect those of his or her parents
- Has difficulty blending sounds
Auditory Memory Disability: The student:
- Does not know address or phone number
- Fails to remember instructions
- Has difficulty memorizing nursery rhymes or poems
- Has difficulty knowing the alphabet
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