'We cannot know through language what we cannot imagine. The image--visual, tactile, auditory--plays a crucial role in the construction of meaning through text. Those who cannot imagine cannot read' (p. 120). This quotation in Wilhelm, taken from Eisner (1992), basically sums up the chapter. For some reason Wilhelm's few students documented as struggling readers failed to "see" things when they read. Again, I want to touch on the use of guided imagery to reach these types of students. This task asks students to draw a picture of what they see when they are read a particular scene from a story aloud. The scene should be one that naturally induces imagery, and when students are read to aloud, they may be able to envision objects moreso than when they read. Think of it basically as students explicitly practicing producing images in your head. It is a relatively short exercise, so depending on the severity of the concerns that students aren't imagining when they read, guided imagery could be done weekly to daily. The task may not instantly help students produce images in their minds, but with enough practice they will begin to use the strategies when they read themselves.
The other visualization techniques described definitely help, in conjuction with one another, students to begin producing images as they read. I like how Wilhem refers to this as art, because techniques like these aren't really offered anywhere else, except for maybe the art class. These techniques also help students develop their abstract thinking skills, which many students tend to lack. Drawing pictures, cutting out symbols that represent objects or characters from a text, performing read alouds with illustrated books, etc. all help students envision story, and as Wihelm suggests, visualizing helps students better remember what they read.
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I think the main importance here is that you give students choice when asking them to show something artistically. As for myself, I've pretty much always felt that I'm terrible at drawing so activities where we were required to draw something we were reading were always frustrating for me. It makes sense to let the students choose a vast majority of the time whether they want to write or draw or do combinations of both.
I believe that the guided imagery technique that you describe would be most beneficial if someone is reading the text to them, so they can just listen and draw what they are seeing at the same time. however, i think the student should be able to pick what they want to read about, at least in the beginning to be able to get them motivated and interested in what they are trying to visualize. I also think that this would help them because they might already have some background knowledge about the characters and setting that might help them in the visualization process.
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