vaslogo Visual Attention Span Theory
What does VAS stand for?
VAS = Visual Attention Span.
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Or read the VAS summary below.

VAS summary.
Visual Attention Span (abbreviated to VAS hereafter) measures the number of elements (letters) that a child can put into memory when guessing a word.
Take the word 'magnet' for example. The letters that will attract the attention of a word-guessing child are the letters adjacent to spaces.

The two end letters m____t have spaces next to them and the two letters __g__t intrude into the spaces below and above the rest of the word.

There are therefore 3 letters that stand out to a word-guessing child m_g__t; these 3 letters are called the 'high visibility letters'.

But some infants cannot hold 3 letters in memory. If they process only 1 letter they may process 'magnet' as m_____' and misguess the word as 'mother' or 'measles' or any of 400 words. This child is said to have level 1 VAS; word-guessing is obviously going to be unreliable.

A child with level 2 VAS will be able to process 2 letters at a glance and, in a small word, will usually choose the two end high visibility letters m____t and therefore misguess magnet as 'meat' or 'mist'. But there are still about 40 words that share that visual pattern; word guessing with level 2 VAS is therefore predictably inaccurate.

The tipping point comes at VAS level 3 because now the child can process all 3 high visibility letters m_g__t and that pattern only fits a handful of words (magnet, maggot, midget). Whole word guessing therefore becomes possible with a level 3 VAS. There are however good reasons for minimising whole word guessing until basic phonic habits are firmly established

The following table shows how guessing accuracy relates to various VAS levels in the infant grades.
The second column (headed 'Visual Pattern') shows the basis for their guess. The underlying principle is ‘the more information, the more accurate the guess’).
The third column shows how many words could fit that pattern. Obviously if there is only one word that could fit the visual pattern, the guess should be accurate. But if there are many words that could fit the pattern, the infant's guess is potentially inaccurate.
Column 4 provides examples of one or two possible matches.
Column 5 reflects the likely guessing accuracy if the child is an infant.
vaslevel

These observations only apply to infants since for example the infant who has level 2 VAS at age 7 should develop level 4 VAS at age 15. However, if he is taught guessing in those early infant grades, he may develop habits of inaccurate guessing that then persist right through to the age of 15.

Plotting VAS development
A child's reading history can perhaps be best viewed via a graph.

vasplot

The vertical axis on the left shows the VAS level (1-5)
The horizontal axis at the bottom shows the age of the child (6-17)
The graph shows two curved parallel lines. The top line represents
AVERAGE VAS development whilst the lower curve (marked A-B-C) shows
the typical VAS development of a child with a lower VAS level.
'A' indicates the VAS level (2.6) measured at age 8.

A detailed introduction to VAS Theory can be found in 'Reading Through Tears'. - See right side bar
VAS seminars can be organized.