How Does Visual Information Processing Impact Reading and Comprehension?

Reading is more than just seeing words on a page, it’s a complex process that involves the brain's ability to interpret and understand visual information. For many children and adults who struggle with reading or comprehension, the issue may not stem from intelligence or effort, but from visual information processing deficits. At New Horizons Vision Therapy Center, we help patients overcome these challenges through personalized vision therapy and therapeutic lenses.

What Is Visual Information Processing?

Visual information processing refers to the brain’s ability to make sense of what the eyes see. While 20/20 vision measures how clearly you can see, visual processing skills involve how you track words on a page, recognize patterns, visualize objects, and retain visual memory. These skills are crucial for reading fluency, attention, and understanding written material.

When visual processing is inefficient, it can lead to symptoms such as:

Confusing similar looking words.

Difficulty recognizing sight words.

Poor reading comprehension.

Difficulty with spelling, especially words that are not phonetically spelled.

Difficulty with understanding spatial concepts in math.

Poor understanding of directional concepts which can lead to reversal of letters (commonly b’s and d’s) or words such as confusing was and saw.

Slower reading speed or the ability to process what is seen.

Difficulty with handwriting.

Children with these challenges may be misdiagnosed with learning disabilities or attention disorders when the underlying problem lies in their visual processing.

The Role of Vision Therapy

Vision therapy is a doctor-supervised, non-surgical treatment program designed to improve visual skills and processing abilities. At New Horizons Vision Therapy Center, our customized therapy plans help retrain the brain and eyes to work more effectively together, but also how to better process what is being seen. Through a combination of in-office sessions and at-home exercises, we target specific visual processing areas such as:

Visual memory: The ability to remember what is seen. Poor visual memory skills can lead to difficulties with recognition of words and spelling, especially sight words or words that do not follow phonetic patterns.

Visualization: The ability to form a mental image. This is an important precursor of visual memory and aids in reading comprehension and following verbal directions.

Visual discrimination: Ability to recognize differences.

Visual spatial relationships: Ability to judge distances, size and relative positions of objects in space and in relation to ourselves. This concept can be important in understanding certain math concepts.

Laterality and directionality: Ability to understand right and left concepts on ourselves (laterality) and other objects or people (directionality). This is an important developmental concept that typically solidifies around age 8. Failure to grasp these concepts can lead to frequent letter reversals.

Visual motor coordination: Ability to integrate what you see with how you move and use your vision to guide the motor system. This processing skill is important for eye-hand coordination in sports, but also the ability to have organized and neat writing.

Visual processing speed: The speed with which one can recognize, analyze and correctly judge what is seen. Slower visual processing speed often leads to requiring more time to complete work.

Over time, patients often experience significant improvements in learning skills including spelling, writing, reading and math.

Give Your Child the Tools They Need to Succeed

If your child struggles with reading, writing or learning, the issue may lie in how their brain processes visual information. We offer comprehensive evaluations to uncover hidden vision problems and provide tailored treatments that support lasting improvements.

Contact New Horizons Vision Therapy Center to discover how vision therapy and therapeutic lenses can make a difference. Contact either our Waunakee (near Madison, WI) or Waukesha, Wisconsin locations, by calling (608) 849-4040 to schedule a consultation today.