Central visual processing disorder

We have discussed visual hypersensitivity and visual hyposensitivity in previous articles which both belong under the umbrella of sensory processing disorder. Now, let’s talk about the last form of SPD, which is connected to sight, central visual processing disorder, shortly CVPD.

There’s a speech about complex sensory disorder, which can often affect learning. If you don’t struggle with any specific learning disability but you still have or had troubles at school, you might have CVPD.

In the case of this disorder, the brain doesn’t process properly the visual inputs in a complex way so we may have problems recognizing shapes, distances or for example an order. It’s important to note our vision as such isn’t impaired. Our brain is just wired differently. 

There are 8 types of central visual processing disorder. Let‘s describe each of them and state basic symptoms to make you being able to orientate in this area. You can see all 8 types written down below.

• Visual discrimination issues

People affected by this type experience difficulties seeing the difference between similar shapes, objects or letters. They can be for example unable to tell the difference between square and triangle, or see the difference between b and d. Than, this person can exchange letters very frequently.

• Visual figure ground discrimination issues

People with this type of CVPD have a hard time pulling out shapes from their background. They can be for example unable to find out specific information on the page or find differences on the 2 similar pictures.

• Visual sequencing issues

People struggling with this type of the disorder have troubles telling the order of words, symbols, objects or images. They often reverse number or letters in the word, or reverse the order of all words. They may have troubles formulating meaningful sentence while writing or they may skip lines while reading.

• Letter and symbol reversal issues

People with this type often confuse letters, symbols and numbers while writing or reading. They can add, skip or reverse them frequently. They can write for example hpapy instead of happy.

• Visual-motor processing issues

People with these have troubles coordinating movement because of the difficulty using feedback from the eyes. They can be unable to catch the ball, write in the line or they can bump into things frequently.

• Visual-spatial issues

People experiencing these issues have difficulties telling where objects are I in the space, how far they are or what the distance between them is. These people may be very clumsy. The can had troubles catching ball or identifying if the car is far enough to cross a zebra crossing. They also often exhibit troubles reading maps and orientating in time.

• Visual closure issues

People experiencing this type of CVPD have difficulties identifying object when just part’s of them are visible. They may don’t recognize a car if they can’t see wheels. These people have often pure drawing skill as well as problems with reading when there are mistakes in the texts because they can’t recognize the world when for example one letter is missing.

• Long or short term visual memory issues

People with these have troubles recalling what they have seen, in a long term or short term memory of both. They may have problem with reading and spelling because of that.

So, these are the types of central visual processing disorder. It can be really challenging to identify this condition, because it can looks like dyslexia, dygraphia or other specific learning disorders. The important thing to realize is that these problem primarily pattern on troubles procession visual information.

It can be quite challenging to live with CVPD in some cases. I’m not sure if I suffer from this condition or not. I just think I could have visual spatial issues because I have a great problem telling distance, orientating in a map and in time. I can have visual discrimination issues as well, because I often reverse letters like b and d and have a hard time differentiating between similar object like a triangle and a square. I may live with visual-motor processing issues too but I’m really not sure about that.

Have you find yourself in some of the symptoms above? If so, what types of central visual processing disorder do you have? Write as in the comment section bellow. As always, we are here for you!