Pediatric Occupational Therapy in Charlotte

In the classroom, children who are visual hyposensitive may be seeking visual input in order to get needed stimulation. These children may appear to be easily distracted if they’re seeking visual input and attending to that need rather than attending to classroom activities. They may have a very hard time switching between looking at the board and looking at their paper because there are so many fascinating things for them to look at when their eyes are travelling between the board and their paper. 

If a child isn’t seeking visual input for stimulation that they feel they are lacking, but they are hyposensitive, then they may be less likely to notice changes in their environment such as visual cues that help them to participate successfully. This can be because the visually hyposensitive child requires a larger stimulation in order to be aware of a new input. For example, an average child may notice a light turn on even if it’s a dim light; whereas a hyposensitive child may need that light to be a very bright one in order for the change in light in the room to register for them as being something new or different. This is similar to a smell or a sound needing to be strong enough for you to notice it, visually hyposensitive children may need much stronger than typical visual inputs in order to be aware of changes or details.