Here’s a deep dive into the signs and symptoms of a visual-spatial disorder, also referred to as visual-spatial processing disorder or visual-spatial difficulties. These challenges are often seen in conditions like nonverbal learning disorder (NVLD), developmental coordination disorder (DCD), and even dyslexia, dyscalculia, or ADHD, but they can also appear independently.
🔍 What is a visual-spatial disorder?
Visual-spatial processing is the ability to understand where objects are in space, both in relation to each other and to your own body. It helps with reading maps, understanding directions, judging distances, recognizing patterns, and more. When this ability is impaired, a child or adult may struggle with navigating the environment, drawing, copying, or visualizing things mentally.
🚨 Core signs and symptoms
1. Difficulties with spatial awareness
- Clumsiness: Frequently bumping into furniture or people, knocking things over.
- Trouble with personal space: Standing too close or too far from others.
- Disorientation: Getting lost even in familiar environments; difficulty reading maps or following directions..
2. Poor visual-motor integration
- Difficulty copying shapes, patterns, or letters.
- Poor handwriting: irregular spacing, inconsistent letter size, and alignment issues.
- Problems with puzzles, block-building, or construction toys.
3. Struggles with directionality
- Confusion between left and right.
- Reversals in writing (e.g., b/d, p/q, 6/9).
- Inability to follow spatial terms like “under,” “next to,” or “behind.”
4. Reading and academic challenges
- Trouble aligning numbers in math problems (especially in columns).
- Difficulty understanding graphs, charts, and diagrams.
- Skipping lines or losing place while reading.
- Trouble visualizing what they read (poor mental imagery).
5. Navigation and wayfinding difficulties
- Getting lost at school, in a mall, or a video game.
- Trouble reading or remembering routes on maps or using GPS.
- Anxiety when going to new places.
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6. Problems with geometry and visual estimation
- Inability to judge distance, size, or depth.
- Difficulty with spatial concepts in geometry like symmetry or rotation.
- Trouble estimating how much space something will take up (e.g., packing a bag or organizing a shelf).
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7. Body awareness issues
- Difficulty imitating body positions in dance or sports.
- Trouble with sports that require spatial precision, like soccer, basketball, or tennis.
- Poor posture or awkward movements.
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8. Difficulty with visual memory and recall
- Forgetting visual details like where an object was placed.
- Difficulty recalling visual sequences (e.g., copying from the board or visual step-by-step instructions).
- Poor performance in memory games that rely on shapes or locations.
🧠 Underlying causes and related conditions
Visual-spatial disorder is not caused by poor vision (i.e., eye health), but by how the brain interprets and organizes visual input. It is often associated with:
- Right hemisphere dysfunction, particularly in the parietal lobe.
- Nonverbal learning disorder (NVLD) – where visual-spatial skills lag behind verbal skills.
- Dyscalculia – especially when involving the spatial layout of numbers and graphs.
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) – where visual-spatial weaknesses may co-occur.
- Dyspraxia or DCD – involves both motor planning and spatial awareness.
- Traumatic brain injury – affecting spatial navigation and processing.
📋 Diagnosis
Visual-spatial disorders are often identified by:
- Pediatric neuropsychologists or occupational therapists
- Standardized tests assessing spatial reasoning, visual memory, block design, and copying tasks
- Reports from parents and teachers describing real-world struggles (e.g., disorganization, messy handwriting, getting lost)
🛠️ Long-term impact
If left unaddressed, visual-spatial deficits may lead to:
- Low academic achievement, especially in STEM subjects
- Frustration and avoidance of spatial or fine motor tasks
- Social isolation due to clumsiness or misreading spatial boundaries
- Low self-esteem, as the child may be perceived as lazy or careless
🧰 Intervention
Edublox is an educational method that integrates cognitive training with reading, writing, or math tutoring based on solid learning principles. Edublox assists students in becoming life-long learners and empowers them to realize their highest educational goals. While Edublox is not a quick fix, its use can permanently alleviate the symptoms of learning disabilities like dyslexia and dyscalculia.
Listen to Sorel’s heartwarming journey of dealing with and overcoming the symptoms of a visual processing disorder and dyslexia.
PANDAS is a pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with strep that can cause difficulties concentrating and loss of academic abilities, particularly in math and visual-spatial areas. This is what happened to Hannah. Listen to Hannah’s story of overcoming the symptoms of a visual-spatial disorder and dyscalculia.
Edublox offers cognitive training and live online tutoring to students with dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, and other learning disabilities. Our students are in the United States, Canada, Australia, and elsewhere. Book a free consultation to discuss your child’s learning needs.
📚 Key references for Visual-Spatial Disorder: 8 Signs and Symptoms
- American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA).
→ Guidelines on intervention for spatial-perceptual deficits. - American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).
→ DCD and NVLD symptoms outlined under neurodevelopmental disorders. - Kavale, K. A., & Forness, S. R. (2000). What definitions of learning disability say and don’t say: A critical analysis. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 33(3), 239–256.
→ Discusses specific learning disabilities, including those with spatial components. - Levine, M. D. (2002). A Mind at a Time. Simon & Schuster.
→ Provides a practical look at how children struggle with spatial thinking in school settings. - Rourke, B. P. (1995). Syndrome of Nonverbal Learning Disabilities: Neurodevelopmental Manifestations. Guilford Press.
→ Seminal work connecting right-hemisphere dysfunction with spatial deficits. - Teeter, P. A. & Semrud-Clikeman, M. (2009). Child Neuropsychology: Assessment and Interventions for Neurodevelopmental Disorders (2nd ed.). Springer.
→ Offers comprehensive profiles of children with visual-spatial and nonverbal learning disabilities.
