What is visio-motor integration and why is it important for hand writing?
Visio-motor integration is the ability to coordinate the visual system (what we see) with our fine motor skills (to be able to copy this using our hands).
Our visual system consists of 3 factors:
1.Visual perceptual skills
Discrimination
Memory
Sequential memory
Form constancy
Foreground-background
Spatial relations
Position in spaceVisual acuity
2. Vision
Eye-muscle functioning
3. Fine eye-hand coordination
The ability of the eyes to visually guide the movement of the hand
The motor skills necessary consist of the following:
- Shoulder girdle stability
Having stability at the bigger joints will improve fine eye-hand coordination in the hand
- Hand functioning skills
To be able to hold and manipulate the pencil
- Fine eye-hand coordination
How do we know if there is a problem?
- If a child struggles to copy shapes/patterns/words/numbers correctly from the blackboard/out of a text book
- If a child takes a long time to copy work from the blackboard/text book
- A child’s handwriting may look disjointed/untidy/illegible
What can we do to help?
Work on all the above mentioned visual and motor
skills to improve the end result that is visio-motor integration:
- Visual perceptual skills
- Have the child’s eyes tested (vision and eye muscle functioning)
- Fine eye-hand coordination
- Postural control – especially shoulder girdle stability
- Hand function