Visual Motor Integration

Prewriting and Writing Skills

What is visual motor integration and prewriting and writing skills?

Visual motor integration (VMI) is the ability of our visual motor and perceptual areas to work together smoothly to copy, draw or write what is seen. Prewriting skills are the skills a child must learn or obtain in the areas of postural control, bilateral coordination, fine motor, visual motor and visual perception before they can write legibly and efficiently. Difficulty with prewriting skills may result in finger/hand fatigue, illegible or messy writing or the inability to keep up with classwork as writing becomes more complex. When learning how to write, younger children typically begin by drawing lines or shapes that will later become necessary to form letters. Older children will learn how to properly form upper and lower case letters, followed by how to place letters or words on a line and lastly how to space words to become a sentence with proper punctuation. Below are the areas we work on to improve prewriting and writing skills.

Postural Control: Refers to the ability to assume and maintain an upright position without support to complete drawing and writing tasks.

Bilateral Coordination: Refers to the use of both sides of the body simultaneously in a coordinated manner to complete drawing and writing tasks.

Fine Motor: Refers to the movements of the small muscles of the hand, wrists and fingers that allow us to grasp and control drawing and writing utensils.

Visual Motor: Refers to the use of our eyes (visual) and hands (motor) together to complete drawing and writing tasks with precision and accuracy such as placing letter correctly on a line.

Visual Perception: Refers to the ability to see an image and understand what it means, including shape/letter recognition, size discrimination, directionality for shape/letter formation and spatial awareness for spacing of letters/words on a line.

Dynamic tripod grasp: Refers to holding a pencil between the index finger and thumb with the middle finger under the pencil for support and the ring and pinky fingers tucked into the palm of the hand.

Following are some suggestions to help improve prewriting skills:

Follow the links below to the appropriate pages for more information and activities to strength each area:

Postural Control: Sitting Posture
1. The ideal seated posture is with hips and knees bent at a 90 degree angle and feet flat on the floor. You can use a box or board under the feet to rest on. A flat writing surface should be 1-2" above slightly bent elbows. The wrist should be straight or in a slightly bent back position.
2. See a variety of alternate positions you can use when drawing and writing such as standing or kneeling at an easel/table top, seated in a chair and on your stomach on the floor!

sitting posturepdf

Bilateral Coordination: Holding Paper
1. 1. 1. When completing paper/pencil or coloring tasks, the non-dominant hand must properly stabilize paper with enough pressure and force to keep the paper from moving.
    2. Right vs Left: When completing writing tasks, the paper should be angled slightly away from the dominant hand to allow the non-dominant hand to stabilize the paper. For right handed students the paper should be angled to the left and for left handed students the paper should be angled to the right.

Fine Motor: Pencil Grasp
1. 1. 1. The most effective grasp when completing paper/pencil or coloring tasks is called the dynamic tripod grasp. Watch this Video to see a demonstration of the proper way to hold your pencil!
    2. Using a slanted or vertical surface helps promote proper wrist, hand and finger positioning when drawing or writing. You can use a slant board or 3 ring binder on a flat surface, an easel or tape paper on a wall.
    3. If your child still has difficulty grasping a utensil effectively, a pencil grip can be used to promote an open web space and proper tripod grasp. There are a variety of choices available but whatever works best for your child is optimal. We typically use The Pencil Grip in our school. Make sure when using a pencil grip that fingers are in the correct spots on the gripper for either a right or left handed grasp.
    4. You can also use short, stubby utensils such as broken crayons, small pieces of chalk and golf pencils, making it more difficult for a child to place all fingers on a utensil at once. If your child does not have a good open web space, fat rounded utensils are recommended.

Stages of Pencil Grip.pdf

Visual Motor: Writing on Lines
1. 1. 1. Lined paper with a top, bottom and middle dotted line provide a visual guide. Our school uses Fundation paper. This paper includes visual pictures next to each line to remind students where to place letters.
    2. If your child still has difficulty placing letters on a line correctly, there are several ways you can adapt paper to provide visual and tactile cues to help with placement. There are also many different commercially sold papers available.
      1. Highlight lines in different colors (typically red, yellow and green) to give a color cue when instructing
        Darken certain lines for a better visual cue
        Use raised lined paper that gives a tactile feedback
        Provide boxes that letters can be placed in correctly on the lines

Visual Perception: Shapes, letters and sentences
1. It is important to form shapes and letters correctly using a consistent left to right and top to bottom direction (visual spatial relations). Our school uses the Fundation Program to teach students how to properly form upper and lower case letters. There are several modifications you can use to help your child who may be having difficulty learn how to form shapes and letters.
  - - Place a green dot where to start and a red dot where to finish
    - Use dots or dotted lines for children to trace or draw to
    - Draw arrows to show proper directions
2. Certain lowercase letters such as b/d, p/q/g, w/m, u/n and s/z may look similar resulting in letter reversals (visual discrimination).
  - - Complete activities that use those letters repeatedly.
    - Use visual aids to remember letter direction (i.e. "bed" with your fists touching and thumbs upright to remember "b" vs "d")
3. It is important to recognize that letters have different heights especially when writing without lines (size discrimination). Some letters touch the top line (tall), some touch the middle line (small) and some dive below the bottom line (diver).
  - - Use a box to show the size of tall, small and diver letters
    - Color spaces between lines to represent the sizes
4. When learning to space between words, many children are taught to use a "finger space" (visual spatial relations).
  - - Use the index finger of the non-dominant hand or a similar sized object to represent the "finger space" in between words

Prewriting shapes:

Young children first learn to draw lines and shapes that later become necessary to form letters.
Use dots or dotted lines for children to trace or draw to when beginning to learn how to draw lines and shapes

Handwriting program:

There are many programs available that teach handwriting. Our school uses the Fundation Program to teach students how to form upper and lower case letters. We have also used the Handwriting Without Tears program for children who need a more hands on approach to learning letters.
1. Click on the link to watch a Video / Video of an overview of Fundation's letters!
2. Click on the link to watch a Video / Video of an overview of Handwriting Without Tears letters!
3. Click on the link for Fundation paper! This paper includes visual pictures next to each line to remind students where to place letters. Letters either touch the top line (sky), stop at the middle line (plane) or dive below the basement line (worm). All letters must "sit" on the bottom line (grass). As children become more skilled, they will be able to write on college ruled or single lined paper.

Following are some activities to help improve drawing and writing skills:

Drawing lines, shapes and letters: Make sure to use a top to bottom, left to right direction!

Draw a picture with lines, shapes, people, patterns using crayons, markers, colored pencils or chalk
Draw in shaving cream, whipped cream, pudding, salt, finger paint, sand, outside in the dirt, etc.
Use playdoh to roll out worms to form shapes and letters
Finger paint at an easel making shapes and lines
Draw with water using a paintbrush or sponge on a chalkboard or cement wall
Use sidewalk chalk to draw lines, shapes and pictures outside or in your basement with cement floors and walls
Use stickers or stamps over lines to form shapes or letters
Use iPad apps that have you trace over lines, shapes or letters
Sky write letters and shapes in the air using your pointer finger

Writing activities: Make sure you are using a top to bottom, left to right direction with finger spaces between words!

Write a sentence without any spaces in between the words, then have the child write the sentence correctly
Rainbow writing: Write your name or spelling/sight words then trace over it using different colored crayons, markers, colored pencils or chalk
Write your name or spelling/sight words, trace it in glue, then cover with beans, pasta, beads, buttons, etc.
Write in a journal
Write a story book and draw pictures to match
Make greeting cards
Practice your name, sight/spelling words and sentences

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