Visual-spatial processing tells you how far objects are from you and from each other.
People use visual-spatial processing for many tasks, like tying shoes and dancing.
Visual-spatial trouble can make it harder to learn to read and do math.
You may not have heard of visual-spatial processing. But you’ve definitely used it. It helps adults do things like find their way home from a new neighborhood or merge in traffic. And long before kids are ready to do either of those things, visual-spatial processing skills help them function in the classroom and on the playground.
Visual-spatial processing is the ability to tell where objects are in space. That includes your own body parts. It also involves being able to tell how far objects are from you and from each other.
People use visual-spatial processing skills for many tasks, from tying shoes to reading a map.
People also need visual processing skills to make sense of letters and numbers. For example, look at “6” and “9” and “W” and “M.” They have different meanings depending on how they’re rotated on the page.
Many tasks involve more than one kind of visual processing skill. For example, when kids practice dance moves they see in a TikTok video, they’re using visual-spatial processing skills. But they also have to remember what they saw, which is a different visual processing skill.
Dive deeper
You need visual-spatial processing skills to do math. Here are some ways trouble with these skills can affect math:
Solving equations: It matters how numbers and symbols are placed in relation to each other on a page. For instance, “5 – 3 + 2” has a different answer than “3 – 2 + 5.”
Working with multi-digit numbers: Kids need to align numbers vertically so they can add or subtract multi-digit numbers.
Doing higher math: Trigonometry and calculus involve imagining an object rotating in space.
Kids’ activity workbooks are full of games that require visual-spatial processing. For example, to complete a maze, kids have to look ahead and chart the path.
Reading a map also involves visual-spatial processing. People have to look at the map, know where they are in relation to the starting point, and then orient themselves in the right direction.
