Visual, Activity, Motor, Postural & Sensorimotor Assessment
See the pattern. Understand the performance. Know what to explore next.
VAMPS™ 2.0 is a clinician-developed observation and clinical reasoning assessment designed for qualified rehabilitation, educational, and clinical professionals who evaluate or support visual, motor, postural, balance, coordination, and sensorimotor performance.
It provides a structured way to observe performance across these areas, recognize patterns, and consider how those patterns may relate to everyday function. Rather than jumping from an observation to a conclusion, VAMPS™ helps you document what you are seeing, what changes across tasks or conditions, and what may deserve further exploration.
You notice the pieces. VAMPS™ helps you put them together.
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A child may have difficulty staying stable at the table.
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They may use their whole head when shifting their eyes.
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Their movement may look stiff, effortful, poorly timed, or different from one side to the other.
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They may lose balance during movement, need extra support to maintain a position, or perform very differently after a demonstration.
Documenting an isolated observation is not the same as understanding the larger pattern.
VAMPS™ gives you a systematic way to observe, organize, and connect those findings.
Rather than reducing performance to can/can't, VAMPS™ encourages you to notice how the person performs, what changes performance, what strengths are available, and where the pattern may matter in real life.
Look Beyond Task Completion
VAMPS™ 2.0 helps you observe across interconnected areas of performance, including:
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Posture and positioning
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Postural control and stability
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Static and dynamic balance
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Natural gait and foot progression
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Bilateral coordination
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Movement sequencing and motor planning
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Supine flexion and prone extension
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Single-leg balance and hopping
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Heel-to-toe walking and dynamic movement
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Pursuits and saccades
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Convergence
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Gaze stabilization
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Body signals, effort, compensatory movement, timing, rhythm, and movement quality
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Supports and environmental conditions that change performance
The goal is not to accumulate isolated findings.
It is to recognize patterns and determine which observations deserve further assessment, support, consultation, or referral.
Movement tells a story. VAMPS helps you see it.
This principle is at the heart of VAMPS™ 2.0.
A child moves their head during a saccadic eye movement task.
A student stops during prone extension.
A client needs their arms to maintain balance.
Those are observations.
They are not diagnoses.
VAMPS™ helps you document what happened first, consider the context, notice whether the pattern repeats, identify what changes performance, and then use your clinical reasoning to decide what should happen next.
A VAMPS™ observation identifies a pattern to explore. It does not establish causation.
That distinction makes VAMPS™ especially useful for thoughtful, neuroaffirming therapy practice.
More than a motor checklist
The VAMPS™ was designed to help you capture how performance changes under different conditions.
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Did the movement become more organized after a demonstration?
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Did slowing the pace help?
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Did a visual target improve stability?
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Did reducing verbal directions make the sequence easier?
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Did repetition change performance?
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Did the person's body signals tell you something important?
Instead of viewing support as evidence that someone should have been able to do the task independently, VAMPS™ treats the response to support as valuable clinical information.
Sometimes the most useful finding is not what was difficult. It is discovering what made performance easier.
Designed for Qualified Professionals
Qualified professionals may use VAMPS™ 2.0 if their education, professional role, competence, and scope support observing visual, motor, postural, balance, coordination, or sensorimotor performance.
Occupational Therapy Practitioners
Occupational therapy practitioners should interpret and document VAMPS™ findings using the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process (OTPF-4) and other applicable occupational therapy standards, terminology, and documentation practices.
Professionals From Other Disciplines
Professionals from other disciplines should use the terminology, frameworks, documentation standards, and clinical reasoning processes appropriate to their own profession.
All professionals are responsible for using VAMPS™ only within their:
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professional scope of practice
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education and demonstrated competence
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licensure or certification requirements
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organizational policies
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applicable laws and regulations
VAMPS™ does not expand or define any professional’s scope of practice.
Connect what you observe to everyday function
A VAMPS™ finding should not end with: “Poor balance.” Or “Difficulty with saccades.” The next question is: Where does this matter? Observation becomes more useful when it connects to meaningful performance.
VAMPS™ encourages professionals to consider whether observed patterns may be relevant to activities such as:
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classroom and learning tasks
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reading and copying
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writing and desk work
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play and recreation
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dressing and self-care
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mobility and stairs
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sports and physical activity
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navigating busy environments
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transitions
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other meaningful routines
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A functional connection is something to explore.
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It does not automatically establish why a difficulty is occurring.
VAMPS™ helps you move from an isolated body-function observation toward a more meaningful functional clinical story.
Notice What Changes Performance
VAMPS™ also asks you to pay attention to the conditions under which performance changes. You may explore whether performance changes with:
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demonstration or modeling
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practice or repetition
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slower pace
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additional time
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visual cues
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reduced language
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positioning
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physical support
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environmental changes
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movement or regulation support
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choice
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predictability
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relational support
This can help move clinical reasoning from: “Something looks difficult.” Toward: “Here is what I observed, here is what changed it, and here is what may deserve further exploration.”
What You Receive
Your VAMPS™ 2.0 professional package includes:
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VAMPS™ 2.0 Assessment Forms
A streamlined, print-friendly clinical assessment with dedicated space for observations, patterns, supports, functional connections, clinical summary, and next steps.
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VAMPS™ 2.0 Professional User Guide
Guidance for appropriate use, safety, clinical reasoning, interpretation, documentation, referral considerations, and connecting findings to function.
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VAMPS™ 2.0 Visual Administration Guide
Professional visual guides for supine flexion, prone extension, single-leg balance, heel-to-toe walking, hopping, dynamic jumping, bilateral movement, quadruped crawling, pursuits, saccades, convergence, gaze stabilization, and more.
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Clinical observation guidance
Clear reminders of what to look for across movement quality, symmetry, timing, rhythm, effort, compensatory movement, body signals, symptoms, practice effects, and response to support.
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Professional documentation support
Examples that help you describe what you observed without jumping to unsupported conclusions.
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Individual Professional License
Use VAMPS™ with your own caseload and maintain completed assessment forms within your professional records.
What VAMPS™ 2.0 is, and what it is not
VAMPS™ is:
A structured clinical observation tool.
A way to organize motor, postural, visual, balance, coordination, and sensorimotor findings.
A support for occupational therapy clinical reasoning.
A framework for noticing patterns, strengths, supports, and functional implications.
A tool for deciding what deserves further exploration.
VAMPS™ is not:
A norm-referenced assessment.
A standardized test.
A diagnostic instrument.
A substitute for medical, specialty vision, vestibular, neurological, orthopedic, developmental, or other professional evaluation when indicated.
VAMPS™ does not provide percentile ranks, normative comparisons, or diagnostic classifications.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is VAMPS™ standardized?
No. VAMPS™ 2.0 is a non-standardized, observation-based clinical assessment. It does not provide standardized scores, norms, percentile ranks, or diagnostic classifications.
Does VAMPS™ diagnose vestibular, vision, neurological, or orthopedic conditions?
No. VAMPS™ may help identify observations that deserve further attention, but it does not determine the underlying diagnosis.
Is VAMPS™ only for occupational therapy practitioners?
No. VAMPS™ was developed from an occupational therapy clinical perspective, but other qualified professionals may use it if their education, role, competence, and scope support the areas being observed.
OTPs should use OTPF-4 terminology and occupational therapy standards when interpreting and documenting findings. Professionals from other disciplines should use the terminology, frameworks, and documentation standards of their own profession.
Does VAMPS™ expand my professional scope?
No.
VAMPS™ does not define or expand professional scope of practice. Each professional is responsible for using only those activities and interpretations that fall within their own education, competence, licensure requirements, professional standards, and applicable laws.
Does VAMPS™ diagnose visual, vestibular, neurological, or motor disorders?
No.
VAMPS™ observations may identify patterns that deserve further attention, but they do not establish a diagnosis or determine the underlying cause.
Do I have to administer every activity?
No. VAMPS™ is intentionally flexible. The practitioner determines which activities are appropriate based on the individual and the clinical context.
Can I modify an activity?
Yes. Clinical judgment is expected. Activities may be adapted, omitted, or discontinued based on abilities, communication, medical history, safety, response, setting, and practitioner competence.
Does it include directions for the activities?
Yes. Your package includes both a Professional User Guide and a highly visual Visual Administration Guide with professional illustrations of the major assessment activities.
Is this only about identifying deficits?
No.
VAMPS™ specifically encourages you to identify strengths, successful conditions, supports, practice effects, and changes in performance, not simply areas of difficulty.
See more than whether they completed the task.
Observe the movement.
Notice the pattern.
Identify what changes performance.
Connect it to everyday function.
And use that information to decide what deserves attention next.
VAMPS™ 2.0
Visual, Activity, Motor, Postural & Sensorimotor Assessment
A Clinical Observation & Reasoning Tool for Occupational Therapy Practitioners