Aim: To evaluate Perceptual visual skills in delayed language developed children.
Material and methods: The relation between visual skills and language has not been rigorously examined
in previous investigations. This is a case-control study which comprised of 25 preschool children with
Delayed Language Development (DLD) (cases) and 25 typically developed children (control). Exclusion
criteria: any neurological or visual impaired disorder. All children had undergone Intelligent Quotient
(I.Q) using Stanford Binet (IV edition), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder Test (ADHDT) and
Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA). The performance of cases was surprisingly superior to
the performance of controls in all visual skills. Moreover, it was significantly different in visual closure
(P value = 0.027) and visual memory (P value = 0.005).
Conclusion: Reading disorders that may develop in children with DLD are more related to language than
to visual skills. DLD has some strong perceptual skills such as visual closure and visual memory. This
should be taken in consideration while planning a strategy for language therapy.