Spot the Difference

About the Spot the Difference exercise

Noticing that something has changed is an everyday skill: a jar moved on the kitchen shelf, a chair out of place, a line missing from a list. It asks the eyes to sweep a scene in order while the mind holds one version and looks at another. After a stroke or brain injury, or with the memory and attention changes of dementia, that comparison can take real effort.

Spot the Difference for adults puts the 30 painted scenes from the Rehab Worksheets pack on screen. Two pictures of the same scene sit side by side, and a handful of things have changed in the second. A round is one to five scenes: tap each change you find on either picture, ask for the rest whenever you are ready, and see how many were found.

What Spot the Difference practices

Visual scanning

Sweeping a painted scene in an orderly way, corner to corner, so no area is skipped, from a quiet reading nook to a cluttered potting shed.

Visual comparison

Judging whether a cup, a window, or a shadow is the same in both pictures or subtly different. Hard scenes hide smaller changes in busier surroundings.

Working memory

Holding a detail from one picture in mind while the eyes move to the other. In the one-at-a-time layout this becomes the main work.

Sustained attention

Staying with a scene until every change is found, without rushing or drifting, while the clock and the found count show how the search unfolds.

How the tool works and what it records

Easy scenes have 5 to 7 differences, medium 7 to 10, and hard 7 to 12 in busier pictures; Mixed draws from all three. A round holds 1 to 5 scenes, freshly picked or chosen by name. Hints can be off or appear after 10 to 60 seconds without progress, marking the quarter of the picture where a change remains. Layout is side by side, stacked, or one picture at a time, with a large-print mode.

A tap on a real change circles it in green on both pictures; a tap on nothing shows a brief red cross and counts as a false positive. Show the rest reveals what is left in amber. Results report found of total, false positives, time, and scenes, per scene as well when a round has several. Three scenes are free with 5 rounds a day; Pro opens all 30 scenes, unlimited rounds, PDF export with an answer page, and saves rounds to the session log.

Screen or paper?

The screen suits a quick session with nothing to print: the clock and found count run on their own, each tap circles a change or fades away, and the pictures can be enlarged or shown one at a time. Paper suits a shared table, sessions without wifi, and people who like to circle with a pen, and it leaves a file of finished pages.

The printable version is the Spot the Difference worksheet set on rehabworksheets.com, and there is a free spot the difference scene to try first, with no email required.

Using it well

• Start with the free easy scenes. Morning Kitchen, Garden Bench, and Reading Nook have 5 or 6 differences each in calm settings. Play them side by side first, then decide whether a hint timer or a busier level would help.
• Turn hints on for a no-fail session. With hints set to 20 or 30 seconds, a change is never lost for long: a dashed square points to the right quarter of the picture. Show the rest closes a scene gently, ringing what remains instead of ending on a miss.
• Use one picture at a time. For anyone who loses their place moving between two pictures, the one-at-a-time layout shows a single picture with a switch. Add large-print mode on a tablet so marks and details are easy to see.
• Share it with a partner. In a group or on a family visit, one person scans and points while another taps, or take turns scene by scene in a Mixed round. Speech is not needed; pointing at a change is enough.

Common questions