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Excerpt from From Rattles to Writing: A Parent’s Guide to Hand Skills:
FIGURE–GROUND DISCRIMINATION AND SCANNING
Figure–ground discrimination is another visual–perceptual skill that helps
your child interpret what she sees; it is the ability to find an object against
its background. The figure is the object that your child is interested in seeing.
The ground is the background or the area surrounding the figure. It is easier to
find a yellow rubber duck on a blue carpet than on a yellow one because the
blue carpet (the ground) creates a contrasting color against the yellow duck
(the figure). This skill enables a child to sort out the important visual stimuli,
such as a desired book from a busy background (i.e., a table cluttered with
magazines)