Visual Exercises
Occupational therapists often talk about visual motor integration when evaluating and working with children. Simply defined, this is the ability to put together information from the eyes and other parts of the body to perform a task. Below are some simple exercises that help with visual motor integration skills. I tried to pick activities with common objects that you may have around the house. For additional ideas, please consult the book:
Seeing Clearly-Fun Activities for Improving Visual Skills by Hickman and Hutchins.
1. Wind Power Games: Have the player use a straw or length of flexible tubing to blow light objects through mazes created by you, or cotton balls to a target.
2. Koosh Ball Catch: Have the child lie on his/her back and throw a koosh ball straight up and catch it. Place a target picture on the ceiling to make the game more fun.
3. Lite Brite: Placing the pegs in the holes to create patterns is good for fine motor skills as well as working on visual motor development.
4. Eye Tracking Games: Have the child focus on an object such as a flashlight shining on the wall and create patterns such as figure 8's and diagonals to work on eye pursuits and tracking.
Parent Tip: Oral motor exercises such as Wind Power games or sucking on sour candies bring the eyes to a convergent state and help alert students for skills like reading and writing.
10/16/07 jbc,otr/l