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 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 but if you notice that your child struggles with any of these tasks, pediatric physical and occupational therapists are able to provide intervention.
Common 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. Here are some of my favorite visual motor integration activities!
Related Reading: Gross Motor Skills Activities for the Summer
Elena 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.