Visual Perceptual Skills

Gosh, I am a slacker lately!  Trying to squeeze everything I can into my last days of summer vacation, so I haven't been posting as much lately.  But, back to work next week!  That being said, I have one more "find" to share with you-

OTs regularly address visual perceptual skills with clients, young and old;  from clients who have had strokes to children whose visual perceptual deficits are affecting their school performance.  We use a variety of modalities to address this, but one common modality is the use of "parquetry."  Parquetry is like a visual perceptual "puzzle" of sorts, and can be used by all ages.  It involves being shown a card with a pattern on it, and then having the child replicate the pattern using various shaped pieces.  We also do the same with colored blocks and pattern cards.  Visual Perception refers the brain’s ability to interpret what the eyes see. This is not the same as visual acuity, which means how clearly a person sees (what you would be measuring when you get your eyes checked by an optometrist).  Good visual perceptual skills are needed for reading, writing, cutting, drawing, completing math problems, as well as many other skills. A child who has problems with perceptual processing might have difficulties working puzzles, copying block designs, or discriminating shapes, pictures or letters.

Of course we have parquetry pieces and patterns in our inventory at work, but I recently found something similar at Barnes and Noble that are smaller and will be easy to tote around:

Tangoes!
Comes in its own durable small box, contains the pieces that you will need (both a red set, and a blue set), and pattern cards (cards are the size of a deck of cards, printed on both sides).  The insert explains Tangoes as follows:  "Tangoes® products are a learning tool that combines artistic and mathematical elements to enhance visual perception ability develop problem solving skills, creative thinking capacity, and teamwork.  The object of Tangoes® products is to form the image on the card using all seven puzzle pieces."

The box says ages 7+, but the description says ages 5-105.  $9.95 at Barnes and Noble.  I like that there are 2 sets of pieces, so that I can copy the pattern along with my little friends, as some of them can be pretty tricky!  All fits conveniently in the little case.
See also:

Tangoes Jr.
We have this toy in our inventory-  it is much larger than the Tangoes, being a bit larger than the size of a square cake pan.  You can find it online and it ranges from 23.99 to $30.  Extra pattern cards are also available for purchase for 6.00 to 12.99.