Visual motor integration is the ability for your child’s hands and eyes to work together to guide their movements. Their eyes tell their brain how to move, and then their brain tells their hands to move there. Visual motor integration is the ability to incorporate visual information that we perceive with our motor skills in order to correctly execute movement of our arms, legs, and body. Visual motor skills are integral to efficient and coordinated movement which allows your child to successfully engage in daily occupations. Visual motor integration is important for handwriting, playing, feeding, and much more. Show
Signs of Visual Motor Deficit or DysfunctionVisual motor deficits or difficulties may present in a variety of ways. Your child may have difficulties with staying within the lines when they color, catching or kicking a ball, fastening buttons, tying their shoelaces, as well as many other gross and fine motor activities. These tasks develop throughout toddlerhood and may take time for them to master. Visual Motor Integration InterventionsIf you notice that your child struggles with any of these tasks, pediatric physical and occupational therapists are able to provide visual motor integration interventions. Visual Motor ActivitiesCommon activities that require the use of visual motor skills include coloring within the lines, copying words/shapes, writing within the lines on a piece of paper, and participating in gross motor activities that require well-time movements such as catching or hitting a ball. These skills work hand in hand with many other skills including oculomotor control, and visual perception to make up visual processing which is the ability to make sense of what we see. Listed below are 8 different visual motor activities that can help improve visual motor skills. As you can see, there are various activities you can encourage that foster visual motor integration for your child! 1. Gross Motor Activities
2. Paper Activities
3. Fine Motor Activities
4. Word Searches, “I Spy” Games, and Hidden PicturesThese can improve visual scanning, where the eye looks top to bottom or left to right, which is important to pick out relevant information. 5. MazesFinishing a maze on paper requires the eyes to tell the hands how to move just the right distance without going over the edge. 6. Coloring by NumberThis activity helps guide your child’s hands to color just the right amount to fill in each space without going over the edges. 7. Playing CatchVisual motor skills aren’t just for tabletop! Throwing a ball back and forth requires your child’s eyes to tell their hands which way to move when the ball is coming towards them. Modify this activity by using a balloon as it’s bigger and falls more slowly! 8. PuzzlesYour child’s eyes work to tell their hands which piece goes where, and which way to turn a piece to make it fit together (or into the slot for wooden puzzles). About the AuthorElena Falcy is a pediatric occupational therapist candidate at NAPA Center. She loves cold days when she can wrap up in a blanket and engage in one of her favorite hobbies, cross-stitching. One of her goals in life is to visit every national park in the United States. About NAPA CenterAt NAPA Center, we take an individualized approach to therapy because we understand that each child is unique with very specific needs. We embrace differences with an understanding that individualized programs work better. For this reason, no two therapeutic programs are alike. If your child needs our services, we will work closely with you to select the best therapies for them, creating a customized program specific to your child’s needs and your family’s goals. Let your child’s journey begin today by contacting us to learn more. contact us Which activities are recommended to help students develop visual motor skills before they form letters?Dot pictures and grid pictures are helpful visual motor integration activities. They require the child to look carefully at the picture and replicate it, which is the same skill needed in handwriting! Start with the really simple ones for young kids and progress to the harder ones as their skills develop.
When teaching letter formation which strategy can be used to group letters together for instruction?6) Use a Multisensory Approach
Look for stories, rhymes and songs about letter formation, which will help your child remember where to start and stop each letter. Handwriting Heroes provides everything you need for a multisensory approach!
Which guidelines should teachers follow when choosing key words for sound spelling cards?Which guideline(s) should teachers follow when choosing key words for sound-spelling cards? Select all that apply. Avoid words in which nasalization affects the way a vowel is pronounced, such as angry for /ă/. Avoid words with phonemes that sound like letter names, like empty (m - t).
Should students learn inflectional suffixes before Derivational suffixes?Students should learn inflectional suffixes such as -ed and -s before learning derivational suffixes like -ful and -less. Adding a derivational suffix to a word often changes the part of speech.
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