VISUAL MOTOR ACTIVITIES

By: Carmen Willings
teachingvisuallyimpaired.com

Visual motor skills are the skills to coordinate eyes and feet as well as eyes and hands. It is the coordination of vision with the movements of the body. A student with a visual impairment may need assistance in developing and facilitating gross motor movement, pointing to a destination or object, and in performing fine motor activities. Visual motor skills help coordinate eyes and feet as well as eyes and hands.

Be aware that some of these activities can be very visually fatiguing for students with visual impairments. It is important to reserve the student's energy so they will have the stamina for completing required classroom activities. Although frequent practice building visual efficiency skills is important, keep in mind that these skills should be practiced outside of academic performance of these skills.  The goal is to work on a student's visual skills to improve their visual efficiency, but the student should not be expected to use these skills to complete academic tasks until they occur with more ease. ​

Copy drawings, shapes and lines

Copy drawings, shapes and lines presented up close and at a distance. Encourage the student to copy different shaped lines and shapes. You may need to first provide a dotted line and encourage the student to connect the dots to form the shape. For some students, this can present more challenges, so it is important to understand the student's vision. This will provide the student with the skills to copy numbers and letters which will allow them to copy words and sentences.  The Doodle Pro can be a fun way for students to practice drawing shapes and lines.

Accurately draw line between two parallel lines, one inch apart

Reduce the width as the student perfects their skills. Make the activity more challenging by presenting different shaped paths and encourage the student to follow the paths. Consider placing a sticker at the end of the path and have the student cut toward the sticker. Provide them with a matching sticker to wear if they are able to stay between the lines! This Highway letter set is another fun option to help students practice drawing between lines.

Cut between lines and on a broad line

Once the student is able to do this successfully, encourage them to cut out simple outlines and pictures. Provide broad lines, if necessary, for the student to cut on. Students may have fun practicing with craft scissors that cut in different designs.

Place an object in an open container or other designated location

You may need to use a sharpie (or other material) to draw around the opening to create high contrast. For younger students, you may choose shape sorters that are paired with sound and lights like this Cookie Shape Sorter by Fisher Price.

Scribble or color within a designated space

Consider placing Wikki stick or creating raised lines using tactile marking devices to provide a tactual border. Alternatively, use a marker to make the lines bolder. If the coloring tasks requires certain areas to be a particular color, create a bold line in a matching color around the space. There are many apps that encourage students to color within a designated area.

Accurately insert string into beads

If the student has difficulty, provide a reinforced string or use pipe cleaner. It is easier to start with larger beads and then gradually reduce the size of beads presented. There are other materials that can be used such as Cheerios or Fruit Loops. These fun colored wooden beads from Melissa and Doug can provide motivation for the student.

Complete form boards, simple puzzles, or peg board designs

You may need to draw with a sharpie marker around the perimeter of the form board to provide high contrast.This Number Puzzle Board from Lauri not only works on the skill of placing pegs in a pegboard, but helps the student learn their numbers too.

Replicate a three-dimensional model through visual imitation

Present a block model or Lego model to the student and provide them with a duplicate set of blocks. Encourage the student to replicate the structure.

Accurately draw line between two parallel lines, one inch apart

Reduce the width as the student perfects their skills. Make the activity more challenging by presenting different shaped paths and encourage the student to follow the paths. Consider placing a sticker at the end of the path and have the student cut toward the sticker. Provide them with a matching sticker to wear if they are able to stay between the lines! This Highway letter set is another fun option to help students practice drawing between lines.

Motor Maze

Create a maze on a tray or in the lid of a box. Tape straws on the surface to create a maze. Provide the student with a marble or a pompom  and encourage them to tilt the board follow the maze to get the marble or pompom from the beginning of the maze to the end of the maze.

Color It! ​

Provide the student with a unit related picture and encourage the student to color within the lines.  Some student’s may need you to create bold lines with a sharpie around the area to be colored.  ​​If the coloring tasks requires certain areas to be a particular color, create a bold line in a matching color around the space. There are many apps that encourage students to color within a designated area.

Connect The Dots  ​

Provide the student with dot to dot pages of unit related pictures and encourage the student to connect the dots in sequential order.

Gross Motor Movement

Students who are visually impaired may need motivators and assistance in developing movement milestones. Holding their head up may be unnatural to a student who has low vision or is blind. The student should be encouraged to hold their head up and develop a good posture. The student may need visual and auditory cues to develop gross motor skills.

To develop gross motor movement, encourage the student to:

• visually locate objects and visually direct hand or foot toward the object.
• locate people and objects to be avoided when moving toward a goal, and locate a path visually and move through it. A fun way to work on this goal is to create an "obstacle course" for students to move through.
• imitate a variety of body movements.
• use their vision to coordinate gross motor activities and make judgments about them.

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TVI’s Guide to Teaching the ECC: An Activities Based Curriculum for Teaching Students who are Blind or Visually Impaired
The TVI’s Guide to Teaching the ECC is a digital pdf available for download. It is designed specifically for fellow itinerant Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI’s), and consists of over 400 activities and topic areas of discussion for instructing students in the Expanded Core Curriculum. The activities are age-neutral and multi-sensory and therefore can meet the needs of the broad range of students served on an itinerant caseload serving. The activities can be individualized to the students various learning modalities and scaffold in order to challenge students but ensure success. Select those activities that align with the student’s learning objects based on the student’s unique visual needs and academic and developmental level. In addition to the core activity areas, each of the 32 Thematic Units incorporates additional unique ECC concepts and skills providing you with a years’ worth of activities. These units are cyclical and can be used repeatedly to help students build on prior knowledge and develop a deeper understanding of concepts. Each unit includes suggestions for activity adaptation associated with the unit. These include lists of objects, possible community-based experiences, environmental print, poems, children & young reader books, children's songs, pop culture songs, movies, and websites.


In addition to the book, the following two supplements are included:
·      TVI’s Guide to the ECC Concept Checklist
·      TVI’s Guide to the ECC Activities Checklist


For complete product details and additional images, visit the TVI's Guide product page.


TVI's Guide to the ECC Product details
·      Digital pdf download: 346 pages (11 pt font)
·      Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments
·      Author: Carmen Willings
·      Language: English


Visual Efficiency & Near Magnifier Fluency Worksheets: TVI's Guide to the ECC Grab and Go Supplements
The Near Magnifier Fluency Worksheets is a Grab and Go supplement to the TVI's Guide to Teaching the ECC. This workbook is a pdf download that can be printed on demand for use with students. It contains five different types of worksheets for developing visual motor skills and near magnifier fluency skills particularly with the use of a video magnifier. As a companion to the TVI’s Guide to the ECC, the worksheets correspond to each of the 32 ECC Thematic units. The worksheets, along with a list of environmental print for each thematic unit, are designed to help students refine their visual motor skills while reinforcing ECC concepts presented in the thematic units.  


For complete product details and additional images, visit the Visual Efficiency & Near Magnifier Product Page.


Visual Efficiency & Near Magnifier Fluency Worksheet Details:
·      Digital pdf download: 210 pages
·      Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments
·      Author: Carmen Willings
·      Language: English


Thematic Keyboarding & Braille Fluency and Maintenance Worksheets: A TVI’s Guide to Teaching the ECC Grab & go Supplement
The Thematic Keyboarding & Braille Fluency and Maintenance Grab and Go ECC worksheet packet is a print on demand workbook that contains worksheets in print and simulated braille to use for data collection. Present the student with a hard braille copy and use the worksheets to document accuracy and fluency in reading braille. As a companion to the TVI’s Guide to the ECC, the worksheets correspond to the ECC Thematic activities presented in the curriculum guide. These word lists and sentences will help the student refine their keyboarding or braille reading skills while bridging ECC concepts presented in the thematic units. Although the lists and passages can be produced using a manual braillewriter, you may also copy and paste the passages into any braille translation software for quick production on an embosser. They may also be entered into a typing program such as APH’s Talking Typer to build keyboarding fluency.


For complete product details and additional images, visit the Thematic Keyboarding & Braille Fluency & Maintenance Product Page


Thematic Keyboarding & Braille Fluency Worksheet Details:
·      Digital pdf download: 338-page print and simulated braille worksheets
·      Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments
·      Author: Carmen Willings
·      Language: English


Thematic Vocabulary Cards and Checklists: Grab & Go ECC Supplement
The Thematic Vocabulary Cards and Checklists Grab and Go ECC supplement is a 446 page pdf downloadable print on demand workbook that includes 2940 vocabulary card on 3 1/2" x 2" templates divided by each of the 32 Thematic Units along with a checklist of each unit words in print and simulated braille. As a companion to the TVI's Guide to the ECC, the vocabulary cards correspond to the ECC Thematic activities presented in the curriculum guide. 


Additional Use:
Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments can have a extremely varied caseloads. It is possible to go several years without having a student on your caseload who requires braille instruction. Like other skills, if you do not practice your braille regularly, it is easy to lose those skills. Use these checklists and cards to maintain your braille skills. Fold the checklist along the line dividing the print from the braille. Choose to either read the print and produce the word in braille using a braillewriter or read the simulated braille and decode it. Finally, these vocabulary cards and checklists may be used with family members or peers who are interested in learning and practicing the braille code.


For complete product details and additional images, visit the Thematic Vocabulary Cards & Checklists Product Page


Thematic Vocabulary Cards and Checklists Details:
·      Digital pdf download: 446-page print on demand resource
·      Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments
·      Author: Carmen Willings
·      Language: English


BONUS!
Lotto Cards
The LOTTO Cards Grab and Go Supplement includes 37 theme related unit cards along with activity suggestions that support activities within the TVI's Guide to Teaching the ECC.


On My Way File Folder Cards
Print and use these cards to represent locations the student may visit that are related to the current thematic unit. Use these with the On My Way File Folder Game outlined in the TVI's Guide to Teaching the ECC p. 27.

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