Visual System

(Retrieved from: http://www.wanguriprimary.nt.edu.au/grounds.html)

Imagine...you are sitting in a classroom, there are posters and banners covering the walls but you are concentrating on what the teacher is writing on the whiteboard. This is a visual system working well, you are able to concentrate on one stimulus and ignore the rest.

When working with a child to calm a hyper-responsive visual system or providing activities for a child avoiding visual input therapeutic activities should take place in:
A low lit small, uncluttered, closed in space filled with pastel or deep colours. For example:
Work in a small treatment room, tent or fort
Have bare (or minimal objects) walls (Case-Snith, 1998)

Specific activity examples:
Order balls by size, colour or shape
Treasure hunts


Arousing a hypo-responsive visual system or activities for a child seeking visual input
Therapeutic activities should take place in:
A large, busy, moderately lit room filled with bright colours. For example:
Work in a bright sunny area
Large areas such as a gym
Have lots of pictures and objects on the walls (Case-Smith, 1998)

Specific activity examples:
Beanbag toss and catch in cut off containers
Magnetic fishing
Flashlight tag

Case-Smith, J. (1998). Pediatric occupational therapy and early intervention (2nd ed.). Woburn, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Kranowitz, C. S. (2003). The out-of-sync child has fun. New York: Penguin Putnam Inc.