Purpose: To develop monocular VMI and VSA.
Equipment: Paper/pencil, clicker (or you can tap two stones/spoons together, snap your fingers, click your tongue, say ‘go’, or use a metronome), eye patch/occluder, work sheet (see sample attached).
Procedure:
1. DOT THE DOT – Home assistant makes a number of dots on the paper. The patient is to bring his own pencil down from several inches in effort to land directly on the dot in one continous movement. Start with dots 1/8 inch in diameter and reduce the size as performance improves. Repeat with each hand.
2. SCRUB THE LINE – Home assistant makes a series of zigzag and curved lines on the paper. The patient is to scrub the line, keeping the pencil point oscillating rapidly and equally across the line. Repeat with each hand.
3. FOLLOW THE PATH – Home assistant draws two nearly parallel lines, zigzagging across the paper. The lines should be made to come ever closer to each other as they go. The patient is to draw his pencil between the two lines without touching either one, as far as he can. Repeat with each hand.
Aspects to be emphasized:
1. The most important aspect of this activity is early and eventually the immediate recognition by the patient of inappropriate responses. To aid in this, the home assistant is to snap the cricket and to touch the patient as soon as the assistant can recognize the beginning of any inaccuracies in the above three activities.
2. The patient must not practice these activities without an observer.
Other notes:
These are great activities that can be easily loaded or unloaded to accommodate a broad range of skills. Follow the instructions given and study the printed samples. You are not obliged to use the exact samples/patterns given, but you should try to follow the intent of the samples and their instructions.
