Gaining meaning from what we see is vital when it comes to reading. We often forget how confusing letters and words can be for children: sometimes little more than a group of black marks and white spaces. The ability to distinguish letters or objects from their background is called figure-ground discrimination (the object or letter is the ‘figure’ and the page or background is the ‘ground’). Sensitivities to this black and white contrast may affect reading ability. Developing the skill of visual discrimination heightens a child’s ability to observe details in images and writing and thus can be very beneficial to their reading.

Figure –ground discrimination can be taught to toddlers and young children through activities and games. Sandra Anselmo (‘Activities to Enhance Thinking Skills, Developing Visual Comprehension – Figure Ground Discrimination’), Associate Professor at the School of Education at the University of the Pacific, suggests visual games for toddlers, for example asking children to find specific objects: ‘Who can find a ball?’ ‘Where is the stuffed dog?’ I used similar games – such as ‘I Spy’ – with young school-age children when I began tutoring. At Learning Creations I was introduced to activities for pre-school children. We used counting sets of ‘bugs’ as an educational tool for counting, sequencing and 2 and 3 part instruction tasks. They served a dual purpose for 3 to 5 year olds: the little ones loved it when we opened the bucket of bugs and asked, ‘Could you find me a red spider?’ ‘Could you give me a yellow fly?’ For older children we used the series of ‘Can You See What I See?’ card games and books. I find the picture book of this series to be particularly useful in developing figure-ground discrimination skills. Each page has a rhyme with a matching picture, filled with hidden objects to find. Giving children a hidden picture or asking them to find an object in the room will also develop discrimination skills. You may need to develop strategies with a young child, by talking about the object and creating a mental image. If a child can’t find what they’re looking for on a page, they’re arguably not ready for reading. Children should learn best from known, to the unknown to abstract. They should learn concepts, thoughts and language before reading and writing. With visual games and books, a child first learns the skill of finding objects in a 2D form before 2D symbols in written form.