Visual Motor

What Are Visual Motor Skills?

Visual motor skills involve the ability of coordinating the body’s movements based on what the eyes perceive. These skills are necessary for efficient use of the hands and eyes together to perform school based activities such as: copying letters, forming shapes, or replicating patterns. They are made up different areas:

  1. Visual Processing Skills- How the eyes move and take in information
  2. Visual Perceptual Skills- How we make sense of what we are seeing.
  3. Eye-Hand Coordination- How we use visual input to coordinate hand movements

Click on this great resource for more information: https://www.theottoolbox.com/visual-motor-skills/

Visual Motor Red Flags

  • Letter reversals
  • Poor line awareness in handwriting
  • Poor margin use in written work
  • Difficulty copying written work
  • Trouble recognizing patterns and completing hands-on math problems
  • Difficulty catching or kicking a ball
  • Trouble with movement games like hopscotch.
  • Clumsiness 
  • Difficulty with sports
  • Difficulty drawing and copying pictures or shapes
  • Puzzles

Strengthening Visual Motor Skills: Activity Ideas