Summary

Assessment of processing of visual information covers more than 50 brain functions that need to be regularly observed because they develop as a part of a child’s general development or they do not develop and thus require compensating strategies. Poor quality of visual information may cause visual functioning that could be interpreted as autistic-like behaviours. Therefore, before the assessment of visual processing problems the quality of visual information entering the brain should be assessed in detail, with tests and communication level and techniques that meet the needs of the child.
 
The image that we see is a composition of the brain rather than a picture of the physical world around us. Children, whose brain functions handle visual information in a way different from that of the typically developing children, experience the world and the information and tasks at school in a way that is difficult to imagine. Each of us normally sighted individuals has his private world; these children’s private worlds are even more private than ours. One of the key features in the rehabilitation and teaching of these children is to remember that we should watch not to interpret behaviours of these children as depicting reactions in us but try to listen carefully and with empathy to understand why the child responds and functions in his particular way. To make this happen in integrated or inclusive education, further education of special education and classroom teachers and their assistants should be made possible in each school where a child is integrated. The schools need to integrate themselves to fit the needs of a particular child and schools must receive better information from the medical specialists to be able to make correct observations and interpretations. 

The last 30 years have seen the development of numerous medical and educational test and observation situations that help us to understand and measure what children see. In the assessment of children with brain damage we should now learn to ask how and why children with problems in processing of visual information perceive and interpret world, our communication and their tasks at school and in preschool activities. The “why” may require another 20 years of work in basic science and observations by hundreds of people in early intervention, rehabilitation, education and therapies. Some important findings on the early processing may be possible within the next 5 years.

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