Sometimes it's so subtle

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DS8 had a hard time learning coins. We tried every now and then, but didn't really stick with teaching them in an organized way. Just other things like getting through homework and making dinner and learning to read got in the way. During the testing for his triannual IEP, it was noted that he hadn't mastered money (there were only 1 or 2 questions about coins on the academic test). I think his teacher was embarrassed, because the next week she started a unit on money.

So we're sitting and doing the homework packet this week, all on money, and he's really cruising through it. He totally gets how to count money, make change, etc. Then we come to a problem where they are showing the faces of a quarter and a nickel (most of the other problems would have one with a head and the other with a tail.) And DS asks me how do you tell them apart. Suddenly it dawns on me that he's somewhat faceblind, and has significant visual processing issues related to visual memory and visual discrimination. He literally can't see the difference between the two images on the worksheet! I wonder how many other things are getting tripped up by subtle issues like this...

To be fair, the heads on quarters and nickels look very similar. Without other cues, like the relative size or the pictures on the tails side, I think it would be pretty hard to tell them apart for anyone. But you are right, sometimes its amazing how differently people can see the world. It sounds like you just wanted to share an observation, but if he's still having trouble, I'd draw his attention to the lettering: on the nickel, it's on the sides of the head; on the quarter, it's top and bottom.

I tried pointing out the lettering, but he would have none of it. He's decided to look for George Washington's ponytail ribbon, which really isn't that different from Thomas Jefferson's ponytail!

You're right, though, I mainly wanted to share my observation. It reminds me of the time that the public school teacher and aide were going around the bend with trying to get DS to put both first and last name on his papers in first grade. The big problem was that he couldn't properly form the two lowercase "r" in our last name. If they'd spent more time helping him learn to write his letters, he wouldn't have been so oppositional to doing what they asked!