Best Games & Activities to Promote Visual Perception Skills
Posted: April 17, 2024 | Written By: Drew Delligatti | Category:
This blog was written by Emily Bowman, Occupational Therapist Assistant at New Story Schools in Harrisburg, PA.
Visual perception refers to the ability to interpret the surrounding environment. After our body takes in and perceives the information from our environment, our body can make a response to the environment. If our perception is impaired or underdeveloped, our response will often be incorrect or uncoordinated.
Imagine that your body was unable to fully perceive the environment visually because you just had your eyes dilated. Now imagine that you were asked to complete a handwriting task when your visual perceptual skills were impaired from dilation. You would expect a simple handwriting task to be much more difficult. You may try to complete the task to the best of your ability but may have words coming off lines and errors in sizing and spacing.
Research shows that there is a strong correlation between children who have good visual perceptual skills and legible handwriting. When visual perceptual skills interfere with handwriting, students' handwriting can demonstrate poor legibility, sizing, spacing, baseline adherence, and letter orientation. Additionally, these students may have difficulty with recalling letter formation patterns, copying work at an appropriate speed, and revising errors in their work.
While parents and teachers may be aware of these issues and the need for intervention to address the visual perceptual needs of a child, it can be difficult to know what to do to support visual perceptual development. Many times, parents and teachers think that repeated practice of handwriting is the only way to improve these skills. When repeated practice of handwriting is completed, students often begin to dislike handwriting and become frustrated with the task. It is important to note that handwriting practice is not the only way to improve handwriting and underlying visual perceptual skills. Alternative games and activities can also drastically improve the underlying skills of handwriting.
The games and activities outlined in this handout address the visual perceptual skills used for handwriting. So, if you are looking for ways to encourage the development of your child’s skills in a fun way, consider playing some of these games!
Guided drawing and painting on YouTube
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