Teaching the visualizing reading strategy to students with IEPs

By the IEP Atlas editorial teamLast updated November 1, 2026

Short answer

Visualizing is making a picture in your head from the words in a text, then checking that picture against the text. Teach it out loud: model a picture from one descriptive sentence, have the student sketch and label what the words say at planned stops, and ask which words built each part of the picture.

Visualizing turns words into something a student can hold onto. A reader who pictures the dented tin roof and the rain pouring off one corner remembers the setting and notices when the story says the roof is now dry. Many students with IEPs read a description and come away with nothing at all. Ask what the room looked like and they shrug.

The routine below makes the picture visible, so you can score it and the student can fix it. The worked example follows one fictional 3rd grader for 10 weeks. Numbers are illustrations. For where visualizing fits with other strategies, see the pillar on reading comprehension strategies.

Why visualizing belongs on the strategy list

The What Works Clearinghouse guide for kindergarten through grade 3 names visualization as one of the comprehension strategies teachers should teach explicitly, along with predicting, questioning, monitoring, inferring and retelling.^[1] The National Reading Panel found that graphic and semantic organizers, which turn text into a picture of its ideas, helped students understand and remember what they read.^[2]

Visualizing is also a diagnostic window. When a student's sketch shows a dog where the text described a horse, you have found a vocabulary or attention breakdown you would miss with a multiple-choice question.

What you need before you start

Descriptive text. Short passages of 80 to 200 words with concrete details: setting descriptions, how a machine works, a scene with action. Avoid abstract text for now.
Text the student can read. About 95% word accuracy, or read it aloud. Visualizing from a passage the student cannot decode only measures decoding.
A sketch sheet. Three boxes, each with two label lines underneath.
Sensory prompts. A card with five questions: What do I see? Hear? Smell or taste? Feel? Where is everything?

Step-by-step visualizing routine

Step 1: Model one sentence out loud

Read one descriptive sentence and think aloud as you build the picture. "The cabin sat at the end of a muddy road, with smoke curling from a crooked chimney. I see a small wooden house. The road in front is brown and wet. The chimney leans, and gray smoke goes up in a curl." Then sketch it in 30 seconds, stick figures allowed.

Step 2: Point to the words that made the picture

Underline the words that built each part: "muddy," "crooked chimney," "smoke curling." This step is what makes visualizing a reading strategy and not an art lesson. Every part of the picture must come from a word or a fair inference.

Step 3: Student sketches and labels at planned stops

Mark 2 or 3 stops in the passage. At each stop the student sketches what the text has described so far and writes 2 labels using words from the text. Give 60 to 90 seconds per sketch. Artistic quality earns nothing.

Step 4: Check the picture against the text

After each sketch, ask: "Show me the words that tell you that." If a detail in the sketch has no words behind it, the student either removes it or explains the inference. If the text names a detail the sketch missed, the student adds it.

Step 5: Revise when the text changes the picture

Good descriptive text often changes the scene. The storm starts, the character opens a door. Ask the student to change the sketch, not draw a new one. Revising shows the student is monitoring, which links visualizing to fix-up strategies.

Step 6: Fade the sketch to a verbal picture

Once sketches are accurate, move to telling instead of drawing. The student closes their eyes, describes the picture in 3 or 4 sentences, and names the words behind it. This is closer to what a reader does in class and takes less time.

Worked example: one student across 10 weeks

Student (fictional): Marcus, grade 3, reads grade 2 text with about 97% accuracy and answers literal questions well. When asked to describe a setting or a process, he gives one word or says "I don't know."

Baseline, October 6 to 10. Three probes, each a 120-word grade 2 descriptive passage. After reading, Marcus sketched and labeled the scene. Scored on a 4-point rubric (below): 1, 1 and 2. Median 1.

Goal. Given an unpracticed grade 2 descriptive passage of 100 to 150 words, Marcus will sketch and label the scene with details from the text, scoring at least 3 of 4 rubric points on 4 of 5 passages across 3 consecutive weekly probes. See the templates for drawing a described scene and sketching key moments on a visualizing organizer.

Instruction. Four 10-minute sessions per week inside his reading block. Weeks 1 to 3: modeling and shared sketching. Weeks 4 to 7: Marcus sketches at stops with the sensory card. Weeks 8 to 10: card removed; verbal descriptions introduced in week 9.

Week	Passages at 3 or 4 points (of 5)	Median score	Notes
Baseline	0 of 5	1	Sketches had 1 detail
3	1 of 5	2	Adding details not in the text
5	3 of 5	3	Labels now use text words
7	4 of 5	3	Revised sketches after scene changes
9	4 of 5	3	Card removed
10	5 of 5	4	Third consecutive probe at criterion

Week 3 is the typical dip. Marcus started drawing what he imagined, not what he read. Step 4, checking every detail against the words, fixed it within two weeks.

How to measure visualizing

Use rubric scoring with one point per part, 5 passages per probe, weekly.

Point	What earns it
Setting or object	The main place or thing in the text is present and correct
Details	At least 3 details from the text appear in the sketch
Labels	Two labels use words from the passage
Accuracy	No major detail contradicts the text

Record scores on the rubric scoring data sheet, one row per passage. Keep the sketches. Three dated sketches side by side make a clear progress report for families. For other ways to score comprehension, see how to measure reading comprehension for IEP goals.

Common mistakes

Weak: "Close your eyes and picture it," with nothing to check. Better: Have the student sketch or describe, then point to the words behind each part.
Weak: Praising detailed, colorful drawings. Better: Score only what the text supports. A stick figure with the right labels beats a beautiful wrong picture.
Weak: Using fantasy text with impossible scenes first. Better: Start with familiar, concrete scenes: a kitchen, a playground, a storm.
Weak: Teaching visualizing with dialogue-heavy passages. Better: Choose passages rich in description. Dialogue is better for inference work.
Weak: A goal that says "will visualize while reading." Better: Name the passage, the product (sketch or description) and the rubric criterion, as in Marcus's goal.

Visualizing pairs naturally with self-questioning and with retell. For full goal wording, see the comprehension goals page and the reading comprehension strategies goal hub. For worked goals across every skill, see IEP goals for reading comprehension. Run your draft through the goal checker before it goes in the IEP.

Frequently asked questions

Is visualizing useful for students who do not draw well?

Yes. The sketch is a record, not art. Stick figures, boxes and arrows are fine. What you score is whether the labels and details come from the text. Students who dislike drawing can describe the picture aloud instead.

What if a student says they cannot see anything in their head?

Some people do not form strong mental images. Skip the eyes-closed part and keep the sketch-and-label routine. The skill that matters is turning descriptive words into an organized set of details, and a sketch or a labeled list does that.

Can visualizing work with informational text?

It works well for processes and places: how a volcano erupts, the parts of a cell, the layout of a fort. Use a labeled diagram in place of a scene, and check each label against the text.

Use it in IEP Atlas

Sources

Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade, What Works Clearinghouse, Institute of Education Sciences
Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching Children to Read, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

Written and checked by the IEP Atlas editorial team under our editorial policy. This guide describes general practice and federal rules. It is not legal advice; your state may add requirements, and the IEP team makes the decisions for each student.