Visual Perceptual Difficulties and Under-Achievement at School in a Large Community-Based Sample of Children

Cathy Williams,Alan Emond,Leon Feinstein,Kate Northstone,Gordon N. Dutton,Ricardo Sabates,Naomi Rogers

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0014772

Abstract

IntroductionDifficulties with visual perception (VP) are often described in children with neurological or developmental problems. However, there are few data regarding the range of visual perceptual abilities in populations of normal children, or on the impact of these abilities on children's day-to-day functioning.MethodsData were obtained for 4512 participants in an ongoing birth cohort study (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children; ALSPAC). The children's mothers responded to questions designed to elicit indications of visual perceptual difficulties or immaturity, when their children were aged 13 years. We examined associations with standardised school test results in reading and in mathematics at age 13–14 years (SATS-KS3), accounting for potential confounders including IQ.ResultsThree underlying factors explained half the variance in the VP question responses. These correlated best with questions on interpreting cluttered scenes; guidance of movement and face recognition. The adjusted parameter estimates (95% CI) for the cluttered-scenes factor (0.05; 0.02 to 0.08; p<0.001) suggested positive associations with the reading test results whilst that for the guidance-of-movement factor (0.03; 0.00 to 0.06; p = 0.026) suggested positive association with the mathematics results. The raw scores were associated with both test results.DiscussionVP abilities were widely distributed in this sample of 13-year old children. Lower levels of VP function were associated with under-achievement in reading and in mathematics. Simple interventions can help children with VP difficulties, so research is needed into practicable, cost-effective strategies for identification and assessment, so that support can be targeted appropriately.

Highlights

Difficulties with visual perception (VP) are often described in children with neurological or developmental problems
Brain injury or malfunction is associated with a range of less severe, but functionally important visual difficulties including visual field defects, eye movement disorders and difficulties in image processing or interpretation, which are known as visual perceptual problems
School outcome data and complete maternal responses to the visual perceptual (VP) questions were available for 4512 children

Summary

Introduction

Difficulties with visual perception (VP) are often described in children with neurological or developmental problems. There are many hypotheses relating to the neural mechanisms producing these and other abilities, a widely-used current model is that there are two important networks for visual information; the ‘‘dorsal stream’’ which links the occipital lobe with the parietal lobe and is preferentially active for immediately and subconsciously judging ‘‘where’’ an object is and how to reach or interact with it, and the ‘‘ventral stream’’ which links the occipital and temporal lobes and is preferentially active for judgements about ‘‘what’’ something looks like (for example recognition of faces, objects)[17] Whilst these networks work together much of the time, they can be activated to different degrees by different types of visually-demanding tasks, supporting the hypothesis of anatomically distinct areas of functional specialisation within the visual system [18,19,20]

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