VT Works

When the Pieces Come Together

Over the course of this series, three simple parquetry blocks have asked us to consider much more than whether a patient can copy a pattern. They have given us opportunities to observe how the patient establishes a reference, organizes parts into a whole, responds when familiar relationships change, compares two spatial fields, and uses feedback to make purposeful corrections.

If you are joining the series at the end, or would like to revisit a particular level:

• Part One introduced the central, parallel square and the organizational support provided by contiguous blocks.
• Part Two reduced that physical support by allowing the blocks to touch the square only partially.
• Part Three introduced pockets, requiring the patient to recognize and reproduce the open space created among the blocks.
• Part Four separated the pieces and then moved the square away from the center, increasing the demands upon spatial judgment and orientation.
• Part Five tilted the square, requiring the patient to conserve the identity of the shape while reorganizing the pattern around diagonal axes.
• Part Six introduced spatial correspondence, requiring the patient to reproduce not only the configuration of the pattern but also its location within the surrounding field.

More Than a Finished Pattern

One of the most valuable lessons from this hierarchy is that the finished construction tells only part of the story. The patient’s starting point, language, planning, visual comparisons, corrections, and ability to explain a strategy may reveal more than whether the blocks ultimately end up in the correct positions.

Parquetry can also provide a meaningful way to reflect gains with a patient. A pattern that once required repeated prompts may later be approached with a clear plan. A patient who previously moved blocks randomly may begin predicting how one change will affect the whole. Another patient may notice an error independently, explain what is different, and make a purposeful correction. Those changes all deserve to be recognized. Vision Therapists can revisit earlier levels, compare strategies across unfamiliar patterns, and ask patients what feels different about the way they approach the activity. Progress may appear in the finished pattern, but it may also appear in greater organization, flexibility, confidence, and self-awareness.

A Resource Worth Revisiting

For those who would like to explore the procedures more deeply, Dr. Leonard Press’ commentary on the Sanet Seminar Series remains an exceptional resource. Weekend Three focuses on visual information processing and includes Linda Sanet’s presentation on parquetry, Harry Wachs’ Developmental Hierarchy, and screenshots of every level. The commentary also includes more than 50 pages devoted to procedures presented by Linda Sanet, COVT and Dr. Carl Hillier, allowing Vision Therapists to study the material at their own pace.

With Appreciation

This series would not have been possible without the work taught and shared with me by Dr. Robert Sanet and Linda Sanet, COVT, or without the developmental thinking of Dr. Harry Wachs that helped shape this hierarchy. Their work reminds us that the value of a procedure does not rest entirely within the equipment; rather, its value comes from how thoughtfully we arrange the conditions, observe the patient, ask questions, and respond to what unfolds.

That may be the most important lesson within all these pieces. Parquetry is not simply about reproducing a design. It is truly an opportunity to watch organization develop, and to help the patient recognize that development within themselves.

Piece by piece.

Cheers!