Assessment Engine · Visual Performance System™
They can see 20/20. So why is school still hard?
As OTs, we know vision is more than acuity. It is how a child uses their eyes to copy from the board, keep place while reading, space words on a page, and sustain attention through a worksheet. The Visual Performance Assessment (VPA™) is the assessment engine within the Visual Performance System™ — a structured way to observe, score, document, and treat that gap, inside your OT scope. See the whole system →
Built by Jeff Foster, MS, OTR/L, EdD(ABD) from 26+ years of school-based practice and doctoral research on teacher and OT competencies in inclusive classrooms. The VPA™ is a clinical observation framework, not a vision-therapy protocol. Read the research →
Where OTs Use It First
The referrals you already get, now with a visual lens.
Most OTs don't need to assess every child's vision. The VPA™ is for the students where visual performance is already on the table: handwriting is labored, reading is inconsistent, or the teacher says they can't "use their eyes" in the classroom.
Handwriting referrals
The most common OT entry point. The VPA™ isolates the visual-motor and visual-perceptual contributors that make handwriting effortful, slow, or poorly organized.
Reading & literacy concerns
For the child who 'can read' but loses place, skips words, or fatigues quickly. The VPA™ traces the breakdown to ocular-motor or visual-perceptual skill rather than collapsing it into 'reading trouble.'
Classroom function & attention
Copying from the board, finding items in a cluttered desk, and keeping place on worksheets all depend on visual efficiency and processing. The VPA™ makes those skills observable and measurable.
Three ways to assess
From a quick flag to a full clinical battery.
Start with the free screener, use the Mini VPA™ to triage a specific concern, or run the Full VPA™ for a comprehensive evaluation with treatment-plan templates linked to results.
Pilot-stage instrument. The VPA™ is available today as a criterion-referenced clinical observation system. Scaled and composite scores are released per age-band cell as the normative sample reaches n ≥ 30; earlier reports return raw Visual Performance Level (VPL) results with the current sample size disclosed. See the Clinician's Manual for the release rule and current v1.x status.
Free · Fast Screener
VPA™ Fast Screener
5–10 min · 5 Level probes · PASS / FLAG
- • Performance-based screening tasks
- • On-screen worksheets + printable packet
- • Referral triggers per Manual v1.0
- • Great for classroom or intake use
Mini VPA™
Mini VPA™
8–12 min · 5 probes · Clear / Monitor / Refer
- • One probe per domain across all 5 levels
- • Interactive tablet worksheets + printable packet
- • Branded PDF reports
- • Triage tool to decide if Full VPA™ is needed
Full VPA™ · Recommended
Full VPA™
45–75 min · 15 sections · 5 domains
- • 15 original performance sections across five domains
- • Auto-referral triggers (NPC, diplopia, near acuity)
- • Optional manual entry for MVPT-4, Beery VMI, TVPS-4, DEM from your own licensed kits
- • Clinical-grade branded PDF reports
Companion tool · Sign-in required
Handwriting Sample Analysis
Photograph a student writing sample and get a structured observation checklist, possible contributing factors mapped to the five levels, and suggested next assessment steps. Observations only — never a score or a diagnosis. Results can be attached to a student record alongside Mini and Full VPA™ data.
A note on standardized instruments. MVPT-4, Beery VMI, TVPS-4, and DEM are copyrighted, Level-B assessments. The Full VPA™ does not reproduce their stimuli, items, or norms. It provides an optional section for clinicians to enter scores from their own licensed kits into the same report.
Paper administration
Print the full VPA™ Administration Kit
A print-ready examiner packet per age band: cover / score entry sheet, verbatim examiner script, 0–3 rubric scoring sheet, and student response form. Administer on paper when a tablet or internet isn't available, then enter the scores online to generate the same scaled VPLs, gap analysis, and branded PDF report.
Sign-in required to print or score. Every kit and score-entry page mirrors the digital item bank. Item updates propagate to the printed packet automatically.
The Five Domains
A framework that spans mechanics to occupation.
- 01
Visual Access
Acuity & contrast
- 02
Visual Efficiency
Fixation, pursuits, saccades, convergence
- 03
Visual Processing
Discrimination, memory, spatial, figure-ground
- 04
Visual-Motor Integration
Eye-hand transfer & handwriting readiness
- 05
Functional Integration
Reading & generative writing
Visual Access
Near acuity, contrast sensitivity, and ocular health screening. The foundation: is the visual system ready to support schoolwork?
Visual Efficiency
How the eyes work together to gather information: accommodation, binocularity, fixation, pursuits, and saccades.
Visual Processing
How the brain interprets visual input: attention, discrimination, memory, spatial relations, and figure-ground.
Visual-Motor Integration & Handwriting Readiness
The visual and perceptual-motor foundation under handwriting: spacing, sizing, alignment, board-to-paper copy, fatigue under visual demand. Curriculum-neutral.
Functional Integration
How visual performance shows up in real occupations: classroom, community, self-care, play. Goals connect to the child's actual day.
Where Vision Shows Up
Built for the two places vision breaks academic performance: handwriting and literacy.
Vision & Handwriting
The Fast Screen, Mini, and Full VPA™ each include a Visual-Motor Integration & Handwriting Readiness domain. Spacing, sizing, alignment, board-to-paper copy, postural support, and pencil-grasp fatigue under visual-motor demand. Elevated scores route directly to the curriculum-neutral Handwriting Visual Foundations packets in the Vision Library.
Vision & Literacy
Oculomotor control (fixation, saccades, pursuits, NPC) and visual-perceptual skills (discrimination, memory, figure-ground, spatial relations) are the visual substrate of decoding, fluency, and worksheet navigation. The VPA™ isolates these layers so reading breakdown can be traced to a specific visual contributor rather than collapsed into "reading trouble."
What the VPA™ measures: the visual and ocular-motor endurance, efficiency, and accuracy that underlie literacy. Not literacy, reading comprehension, or decoding themselves.
Shipped in v1.0
VPA™ Manual v1.0, Quick Guide, VML Mini, and the FAST SCREEN. Used in Jeff's practice and taught in his live courses.
In Active Refinement
Terminology consistency, citation pass, pilot data on the FAST SCREEN, and a second-reviewer clinical read. Targeting v1.1 in 2026.
On the Roadmap
Interactive web version of the FAST SCREEN, VPA™ Foundations course, and a practitioner certification track.
A note on scope. VPA™ is a clinical reasoning and observation framework, not a diagnostic instrument. It's built to help OTs connect visual performance to real-world function and to identify when referral to medical eye care or further specialized evaluation is indicated.
Who We're Looking For
Building the VPA™ with the people who will use it.
Over the next 12 months, the field is shaping the VPA™ with me, not from isolation. If any of these describe you, we want to hear from you.
Practicing Clinicians
OTs and OTAs willing to pilot the framework on their caseload and share what works and what doesn't.
University Faculty
OT/OTA programs interested in integrating VPA™ concepts into a course, lab, or fieldwork experience.
Research Partners
Faculty and clinicians interested in co-authoring on validation, outcomes, and clinical use cases.
v1.0 Feedback Loop
Help shape v1.1.
If you've read the manual, used the FAST SCREEN with a real kid, or spotted something that could be sharper, tell us. Every piece of practitioner feedback gets logged and considered for the next revision.
Manual notes
Unclear language, missing citations, or a section that didn't land in practice.
FAST SCREEN pilots
Cases where it flagged something useful, or missed something it shouldn't have.
Framework gaps
A population, setting, or scenario the five domains don't yet account for.
VPA™ Updates
Get updates as the VPA™ grows.
VPA™ v1.0 is already available. Join the updates list for pilot cohorts, the five-domain guide, VPA™ Foundations course, and v1.1 release notes.