Occupational Therapy -> Visual Motor Skills

Visual Motor Skills

The ability to observe, recognize, and use visual information about forms, shapes, figures, and objects makes up our visual motor abilities. Visual motor skills include a coordination of visual information that is perceived and processed with motor skills, including fine motor, gross motor, and sensory motor. Occupational therapists address visual motor skills through therapeutic activities for practice and teaching, strengthening, adaption of tasks and/or materials (i.e. pencil grip), and education of specific techniques.

Minor focus areas

Skilled interventions

  • Visual-Motor Activities

    Visual-Motor Activities focus on improving the ability to process visual information and translate it into coordinated motor output. These activities help to refine skills necessary for academic and daily living tasks, enhancing precision, accuracy, and speed.

    Therapeutic activities typically include:

    - Tracing and Drawing: Using various shapes, letters, and numbers to improve precision in hand movements as guided by visual cues.
    Construction Tasks: Building with blocks or assembling puzzles that require interpreting visual information and accurately manipulating pieces.
    - Target Games: Engaging in activities like throwing darts or playing catch, which require timing and precision based on visual judgment.
    - Craft Activities: Completing crafts that involve cutting, pasting, and assembling materials based on a design or pattern.

    Occupational therapists assess the individual's visual and motor capabilities and tailor activities to challenge and develop these skills progressively. Interventions are designed to be engaging and age-appropriate, often incorporating elements of play to maintain motivation and enjoyment.

  • Visual Perception Activities

    Visual Perception Activities focus on improving the brain's ability to process and interpret visual stimuli, which is essential for academic success and daily functioning. These activities help refine skills necessary for distinguishing shapes, sizes, colors, and spatial relationships, thereby enhancing overall visual processing capabilities.
    Therapeutic activities typically include:
    • Visual Discrimination Tasks: Activities that involve identifying differences and similarities in shapes, letters, or objects to improve the ability to notice subtle distinctions.
    • Spatial Awareness Exercises: Engaging in tasks that require understanding of spatial relationships, such as arranging objects in a specific order or navigating through mazes.
    • Visual Memory Games: Playing memory games that challenge the ability to recall visual details, such as matching pairs or recalling sequences of images.
    • Pattern Recognition Activities: Completing tasks that involve identifying and predicting patterns, which can include puzzles or sequencing exercises.
    • Figure-Ground Perception Tasks: Activities that help distinguish an object from its background, such as finding hidden items in a complex image.
    Occupational therapists assess the individual's visual perception abilities and tailor activities to progressively challenge and develop these skills. Interventions are designed to be engaging and age-appropriate, often incorporating elements of play to maintain motivation and enjoyment. By enhancing visual perception, these activities support improved academic performance, better navigation of physical environments, and increased independence in daily tasks.

Reference links

  • Visual Motor Skills 1
    www.theottoolbox.com     Author: The OT Toolbox - Here, you find a huge resource on visual motor skills including information, visual motor activities, and tools to support visual motor skill development in kids.   We have shared quite a few posts relating to vision and the integration of what the eyes see with motor movements. On this page, you will find a huge ... Read more
  • Reading: A Review of the Current Research On Vocabulary Instruction 0
    www2.ed.gov     Author: National Reading Technical Assistance Center, RMC Research Corporation - This review of current vocabulary research confirms the benefits of explicit teaching over implicit teaching in promoting vocabulary development. Results from this review suggest that effective and efficient research-based methods are available when selecting a particular instructional approach. The findings also suggest several instructional implications for promoting word knowledge: • Frequent exposure to targeted vocabulary words. Biemiller and Boote (2006) found that repeated Reading a storybook resulted in more significant average gains in word knowledge for young children. • Explicit instruction of targeted vocabulary words. Biemiller and Boote (2006) also found that word explanations taught directly during the reading of a storybook enhanced children’s understanding of word meanings. In addition, Nash and Snowling (2006) found that using a contextual approach to instruction produced more significant vocabulary gains than lessons that emphasized learning word definitions. • Questioning and language engagement. Scaffolding questions that are, moving from low-demand questions to high-demand questions promote greater gains in word learning (Blewitt, Rump, Shealy, & Cook, 2009). Vocabulary instruction should include teacher-student and interactive activities that target new words (Coyne, McCoach & Kapp, 2007). In summary, active vocabulary instruction should permeate a classroom and contain rich and exciting information. In addition, vocabulary instruction should cover many words that have been skillfully and carefully chosen to reduce vocabulary gaps and improve students’ abilities to apply word knowledge to the task of comprehension.
  • Effectiveness of a 10-Week Tier-1 Response to Intervention Program In Improving Fine Motor and Visual–Motor Skills In General Education Kindergarten Students 2
    research.aota.org     Author: Ohl, Graze, Weber, Kenny, Salvatore, & Wagreich - Tier 1 RtI approach to be effective in improving the fine motor and visual–motor skills of kindergarten children at the beginning of the school year. Occupational therapy practitioners have a beneficial role in contributing effective Tier 1 strategy and practices that support the needs of students in the classroom environment. Short-term interventions can have a significant effect on the fine motor and visual–motor integration skills required for handwriting readiness. Collaboration provides teachers with skills and tools they can use in the future with or without the occupational therapy practitioner present Citation: Alisha M. Ohl, Hollie Graze, Karen Weber, Sabrina Kenny, Christie Salvatore, Sarah Wagreich; Effectiveness of a 10-Week Tier-1 Response to Intervention Program in Improving Fine Motor and Visual–Motor Skills in General Education Kindergarten Students. Am J Occup Ther September/October 2013, Vol. 67(5), 507–514. doi: https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2013.008110

Activity List(s)

Visual Schedule Cards

Assessments

Goal Bank

  • Peter will find needed objects in natural environment in less than 65 seconds with supervision on 9 /10 therapy sessions by May 5, 2023 for visual perceptual skills used in daily routine. 0

Therapists

Therapists who selected this major focus area as their top area of expertise.