hand-eye coordination

Nicole Howard

Hand-eye coordination is the skill of doing activities that require the simultaneous use of the hands and eyes. In other words, it is the ability to use the information our eyes perceive to guide our hands to perform a movement.

We use our eyes to properly guide our awareness of a specific input and help the brain determine where the body is located in space.
We also make use of our hands to accomplish a given task based on visual information at the same time.

Hand-eye coordination is a cognitively complex ability, as it requires us to link our visual and motor capacity, enabling the hand to be driven by the visual input our eyes receive. Hand-eye coordination is particularly critical for regular child performance and school achievement, but it is also a significant skill that humans use everyday in numerous activities.

Most of the tasks that we perform in the daily course of life use a certain amount of hand-eye coordination, so it is critical that it be as much developed as it can. In general, we use visual information to correct the behavior that is not appropriate for a situation.

We actually make use of hand-eye coordination each time we write. When we begin to draw lines, our eyes send out vision input to the brain to tell it exactly where the hand is and if handwriting is readable.

Using this input, the brain produces directions on how the hand must move in order to make the correct forms and lines, creating the letters. Eye feedback also supports fixing wrong shapes (letters) created by previous motor instructions.

From four to 14 months of age, children explore their world and develop hand-eye coordination in combination with motor skills.

In motor skills, small muscles are involved in the control of movements, such as when a baby begins to use his fingers with a purpose, in coordination with his eyes.

Infants become eager to move their eyes, mouths, and bodies toward people and objects that attract and interest them.

They exercise skills needed to approach desired objects, move them around, and bring them closer to themselves.

By six months of age, many babies begin to reach for objects quickly, and may be able to feed themselves with simple foods. Children of this age try to get objects within their reach and objects out of their reach. Many children are also able to follow the movements of their hands.

After six months, infants are usually able to manipulate a cup and hold it by the handle. They also begin to reach for objects with one arm instead of both.

By about eight months of age, dexterity improves and they can grasp small objects, they also begin to transfer objects from hand to hand.

From birth to age three, children begin to recognize concepts of place and direction, such as up and down. They also develop the ability to manipulate objects with complex motor skills.

Between the ages of three and five, young children continue to develop hand-eye coordination skills, particularly the ability to climb, balance, run, jump, push, pull, and climb stairs. They also develop depth perception.

Children between the ages of five and seven improve motor skills, such as handling writing instruments or scissors. They learn to focus their vision for several hours each day.

Hand-eye coordination problems

Hand-eye coordination problems usually show up with a lack of skill in drawing or writing.

The drawing shows poor orientation on the page, and the child is unable to stay "inside the lines" when using a coloring book.

Poor coordination can have a wide variety of causes, but the two main conditions responsible for inadequate hand-eye coordination are vision problems and movement disorders.

Visual impairment is a loss of vision that makes it difficult or impossible to perform daily activities without special adjustments. This problem can be caused by a loss of visual acuity, in which the eye does not see objects as clearly as usual. It may also be caused by a loss of visual field. The eye cannot see the vastness of a certain area as usual without moving the eyes or turning the head.

Movement disorders are characterized by impaired body movements. They have a variety of causes. One example is ataxia, which is characterized by a lack of coordination when performing voluntary movements. The problem may appear as clumsiness, inexactness, or instability. Movements are not uniform and may appear bumpy or jerky. Another example is hypertonia, a condition characterized by an abnormal increase in muscle tension and a reduced ability of a muscle to stretch. Whatever origin, movement disorders interfere with the normal development of hand-eye coordination.

By the time a child is between one and two years old, parents should encourage activities that allow them to learn to use their hands to manipulate objects. These activities are extremely important for the development of hand-eye coordination, which is itself crucial to a child's overall physical development. Some toys are designed to aid hand-eye coordination development.They usually involve assembly or construction. Leaving children free to play with these objects teaches them how to fit objects into a whole. Puzzles also promote hand-eye coordination, as do blocks or construction toys that create balance (brick towers). These toys help children learn which items can fit on top of each other and which can be stacked easily.

For older children, visual puzzles involving writing can be very helpful in improving hand-eye coordination.

For example, dot to dot puzzles improve hand eye coordination and develop visual motor control; they also play an important role on the development of counting skills, writing, fine motor strength, concentration and focus.

Coloring can also i mprove hand-eye coordination with a lot of fun for children.

Coloring with pencils is a fine motor skill that builds other abilities. The act of coloring with a pencil can help children develop fine motor strength, dexterity, grasp, and control in their hands.

By building coloring abilities, children can increase visual perceptual skills. Spatial awareness is one area of perceptual skills.
Visual perception is important for many functional skills in handwriting: awareness of body position while moving through space, awareness of lines, use of margins on a page, and writing within a specified space.

When writing or coloring, children must successfully coordinate their physical motions with information received from their eye systems.

Controlled movements are critical for handwriting, proper letter formation, and clean writing. Coloring supports the coordination of visual information input with hand physical movements in very tiny or wide spaces. Providing smaller areas of coloring involves more coordinated movements and dexterity.

Mazes are also an excellent activity to support hand-eye coordination while engaging the brain in problem solving.

Parents of preschoolers should be vigilant for signs and abnormalities or developmental problems in visual coordination. If a child is reluctant to engage in activities that require hand-eye coordination or if handwriting is very irregular, observation of the child by a specialist might be considered.

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