Visual Perception and Visual Motor Skills

Visual Perception and Visual Motor Skills for Children

Visual perception helps children make sense of what they see. Visual motor skills help them coordinate visual information with their movements, such as when copying a shape or cutting along a line.

Continuity OT explores how these skills affect everyday participation and provides individualized practice, strategies, and adaptations.

Everyday examples

• Copying shapes, letters, and designs
• Completing puzzles and matching activities
• Finding materials among other objects
• Cutting along lines and around shapes
• Organizing written work on a page

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Visual Perceptual Skills

A presentation slide titled "Form Constance" explains recognizing objects from different angles and perspectives, with two orange triangles, one upright and the other tilted, shown as equal.
A presentation slide describing visual discrimination, showing two lowercase 'b' and 'd' in yellow and orange with patterns.
A diagram illustrating figure-ground perception with a black triangle overlaying a pattern of green and teal lines forming an ambiguous figure.
A visual aid defining visual closure with a drawing of a smiling cat's face.
Educational poster titled 'Spatial Relationships' with a short description about understanding the position of objects relative to each other, and an illustration of a table with a black triangle underneath it.
A white educational flashcard with black and purple text explaining visual memory and sequential memory, displaying a sample phone number in purple.

Visual Motor Skills

Visual-motor integration (VMI) is the ability to coordinate visual perceptual information with motor coordination. VMI is essentially your hand-eye coordination skills that are needed for effective handwriting and other complex activities.

  • Visual perception: Accurately interpreting and processing visual information (shapes, sizes, colors, spatial relationships).  

  • Motor skills: Fine motor skills like dexterity and strength.  

  • Visual-motor integration: The ability to integrate visual information with hand movements, essential for tasks like copying shapes, drawing, and cutting.