Visualizing May Be the Cause of Reading and Writing Difficulties
The value and role of visualizing has long been associated with the success in everything from sports to public speaking. Less well known is the critical nature of visualizing while reading and writing. Studies have proven a strong correlation between visualizing and reading comprehension and have shed light on its role in effective writing. An author’s words create images in the reader’s head which are critical to successful comprehension. Similarly, while writing, the author chooses words to describe and bring to life the images they are visualizing while writing. Experts agree that words create images and images create words. Visualization is critical to both reading and writing.
It is important to note that visualizing does not happen automatically for all students and can be the cause of poor reading comprehension and poor writing and communication skills. Additionally, the skill of visualizing is not purposefully taught in classrooms as a rule. The good news is that explicit and systematic instruction can help students develop the skill of visualization helping to improve their reading and writing.
Whether your child has strong visualization skills or not, below are a few simple strategies parents can use to prompt and strengthen visualization skills.
While your child is reading…
Ask your child to describe how they picture a character or setting. Ask them to include details that describe color, size (often comparing to a known is effective), number, background, sounds, time (day or night), season/weather
Ask your student if there are any unknown words or phrases. Often a quick internet search can provide an image that provides support.
While your child is writing…
It is not uncommon for a child to compose a sentence, paragraph or story in their head or aloud and forget it before they write it down. Below is a strategy to help. This process may seem tedious but it encourages the writer to visualize the words on the page and acts as a memory support. I advice practicing this strategy on short writing pieces until is becomes habit.
Before beginning collect all the writing supplies you will need in order to avoid interruptions; pencil, paper, eraser.
Have your child verbally compose one sentence.
Have your child repeat the sentence holding up one finger (on their non dominant hand) for each word in the sentence as if counting the words.
Have your child note the number of words in their sentence.
Have your child repeat the sentence this time pointing to where each word in their sentence will be written on the page. Be sure it matches the words counted on their fingers.
Next, have your child begin writing their sentence
If your child becomes distracted or forgets the sentence that they composed, reread what they have written thus far. This typcially serves as a memory trigger and calls upon their knowledge of correct grammar and meaning adding additional support.
Repeat this process for subsequent sentences, one sentence at a time, until the writing is complete.