Ocular motor control refers to the ability of the eyes to focus on and follow an object within the visual field. Adequate ocular motor skills are essential for as academic tasks such as reading.

• Fixation: the ability of the eyes to look at a stationary target
• Scanning: the ability of the eyes to move on all planes while looking at stationary targets (i.e. moving the eyes left to right while reading)
• Tracking: the ability of the eyes to follow a moving target
• Convergence: the ability of the eyes to work together to focus on a target
• Divergence: the ability of the eyes to return to a neutral position after converging
• Saccades: fast movements of the eyes that occur when shifting focus from one point to another the visual field

Activities to promote ocular motor skills:

• Small Number Find (scanning): The student must scan a sheet of writing from left to right and top to bottom while circle a specified letter (can use magazines, newspapers, word search puzzles, old books).
• Follow the Ball (tracking): Tie a ball to a string and hang from the ceiling. Push the ball in various directions while requiring the child to follow the moving target with his/her eyes without moving his/her head.
• Follow the Sticker (tracking): Place a small sticker on the end of a popsicle stick. Hold the popsicle stick a little less than an arms distance away from the child's face at his/her eye level. Require the student to keep his/her eyes on the sticker as you move the stick up, down, left, right, and diagonally. Instruct the child to keep his/her head straight during this task.
• Pencil Push-Ups (convergence/divergence): The pencil is held in front of the child and brought toward the tip of the nose while the child maintains eye contact with the point. Hold the pencil the closest to the child's nose without him or her reporting blurry vision. He or she then stares at the pencil point for ten seconds. The child should follow the pencil with his/her eyes at it is returned to the starting position. Repeat this ten times.
• Straw and Pick-Up Stick (convergence/divergence): Hold the straw horizontally in front of the child about 3/4 of an arm length away. Require the child to slide the pick-up stick into the straw. Repeat and move the straw closer to the child, making the activity more difficult.
• Popsicle Stick Find (saccades): Draw two different shapes on two popsicle sticks. Hold two popsicle sticks in front of the child at different locations. Require the student to look from one stick to another without moving his/her head by calling out the names of the shapes. Move the sticks requiring the student to look in different directions (left, right, up, down, diagonally).