So I was just asked “Why didn’t Ayres consider and put more importance of the visual system? I was a bit perplexed and so explored this further with the therapist asking the question. The OT explained that she has been taught that Ayres did not consider the visual and auditory systems and that this means that for School OT’s where many difficulties link to visual processing deficits, learning the SIPT is not a useful and that therapists should instead use other tools linking vision to motor skills like the Bruinicks or Movement ABC alongside TVPS or VMI to ensure they understand and consider visual deficits.

This OT is not the first person to ask this question, so here is a bit more information about the visual system in Ayres’ Sensory Integration, and her understanding about the impact of sensory integration difficulties on academic learning.

” Those of us who study the overt behavior of children with academic deficiencies, and, at the same time, try to keep informed on related neurological research, are making an effort to interweave both approaches to knowledge into a theoretical structure which may be used as a provisional basis for treatment of children with learning problems.”

Ayres 1964 re-printed in Ayres 1974

The Sensory Integration and Praxis Test(SIPT) has 2 tests that are motor free and directly assess visual skills; Space Visualisation (SV) and Figure-Ground (FG), and 4 more that further explore visual skills in conjunction with other sensory systems and contribution to function; Manual Form Perception (MFP), Design Copy (DC), Constructional Praxis (CPr) and Motor Accuracy (MAc).

SV         5                    Motor-free visual perception; mental rotation

FG         2                    Motor-free figure-ground perception

MFP       14                  Recognition of forms held in hands; visualization

DC         4                    Visuopraxis; two-dimensional construction

CPr        3                    Three-dimensional visual space management

MAc       6                    Eye-hand coordination; somatopraxis

Jean A Ayres’ absolutely understood the importance of the visual system, her papers, books, and the SIPT manual make clear reference to this. Ayres did not consider vision just in terms of assessment, but also in how she recommended intervention approaches that would address deficits in the visual systems ability to support participation in daily life.

“Visual perception of the external world is at least partially dependant upon adequate perception of the construction of one’s own body or body scheme. The ability to perform complex motor tasks is dependant on mastery of the ability to do certain basic motor planning. Acquiring these two kinds of ablities occur sumultaneously and the acquisision is mutually dependant…

…any child who is severaly deficient in visual-motor function should begin…by learning to roll over, initiating motion by looking at a bright object placed at the side. This is an early step in ocular control…

…a recreational game through the ingenuity of the supervisor of the activity…

…The use of the eyes along with the body is essential, for it is the beginning of the dvelopment of one of the fundamental uses of the eyes – the guiding of total body action.”

Ayres 1961 in Ayres 1974

Research data from the SIPT and its predecessor, the SCSIT clearly showed the emergence of a pattern linking visual and movement difficulties called visuo and somatodyspraxia;

Read more here:

Verification and Clarification of Patterns of Sensory Integrative Dysfunction

Patterns of sensory integration dysfunction in children from South Africa

Correlational study between structured clinical observations and the Sensory Integration and Praxis Test

In her seminal work, Sensory Integration and Learning Disorders, Ayres 1972 discusses the importance of the development of Form and Space Perception, summarising the significant work of the time by Goins, Punwar, Frostig, and others. She describes the underlying neuroanatomy of visual perception, and it’s development in man. Ayres concluded the chapter exploring theories of dual modes of vision, advanced by Trevarthen, Gibson, and Held in the late 1960’s, before describing treatment approaches to develop form and space perception.

“…it is appropriate to close a therapeutic session which emphasized somatosensory and vestibular stimulation with task that focus on visual form and space perception. It is anticiapted that the earlier treatment enhances the capacity for visual perception and that sitting still while engaged in visual perception tasks helps quiet the child before he leaves the therapy area.”  Ayres 1972

from Chapter 15 – Sensory Integration and Visual Deficits, including Blindness in the book Sensory Integration with Diverse Populations written by Smith Roley, Blanche and Schaaf published in 2001.