Category Archives: Assessments

Explore therapeutic and educational assessments designed to evaluate a wide range of skills, including motor, cognitive, sensory, social-emotional, and developmental functioning. These tools help professionals tailor treatment plans for individuals of all ages and abilities.

Collaborative Blog Project: Handwriting Evaluations

Assessments, Handwriting, ,

January 23 celebrated National Handwriting Day.  In honor of a holiday near and dear to many occupational therapists’ hearts, we tasked you all with sending us your best ideas, tips, tricks, and opinions on all things handwriting.  We then compiled these comments into Therapro’s first-ever series of collaborative blog posts.  Our first topic, handwriting evaluations! Here is what you all had to say:

Favorite & Most Helpful Handwriting Assessment or Evaluation Methods

Evaluation Tool of Children's Handwriting

By far most therapists surveyed relied on non standardized measures and skilled observations to collect information about a students handwriting.    When it came down to standardized measures the most popular were The Print Tool, The Evaluation of Children’s Handwriting (ETCH), and the Test of Handwriting Skills Revised.

Handwriting Evaluations: Pros & Cons

The Print tool

When discussing the pros and cons of each of these measures a few common themes emerged:

  • The Print Tool provides detailed information about a student’s physical approach to handwriting, but it can be time-consuming to administer and score.
  • Non-standardized measures can be quick and easy, but don’t provide needed normative data.
  • It is difficult to gain reliable information when a student does not yet know the alphabet. 

Other Factors to Consider When Evaluating Handwriting

Visual Perceptual Skills-4

Therapists surveyed indicated that evaluating a student’s motor performance as well as visual perceptual skills was a critical aspect of the handwriting assessment process.  Sensory, environmental, and psychosocial factors were also identified as areas to include when assessing a student’s handwriting.

Helpful Hints & Suggestions for Evaluating Handwriting

  • Include both a near-point and far-point copy task.
  • Include observations of the student performing both preferred and nonpreferred tasks.
  • When observing a child writing, position yourself for an optimal view of the student’s writing hand.
  • Eliminate distraction.
  • Have grips, different seating options, adaptive paper, and a variety of writing tools available to try.
  • Have letter strips available for visual reference.
  • Choose a topic that is of interest to the student to write about.
Handwriting Tools
Adaptive Paper

Thank you to all of the therapists who shared their knowledge and expertise!

Feifer Assessment of Writing

Assessments, Handwriting,
Feifer Assessment of Writing logo

The Feifer Assessment of Writing (FAW) goes beyond standard handwriting measures to help practitioners truly understand the factors contributing to handwriting difficulty. The FAW allows practitioners to answer the “why”!   By understanding the factors contributing to handwriting difficulty, practitioners are better equipped to develop treatment plans that are efficient and that adequately address the underlying cause of difficulty.

Feifer Assessment of Writing: What’s Measured?

The FAW is comprised of ten subtests (and two additional, optional, subtests) designed to identify and differentiate among the three subtypes of dysgraphia.  The subsets are: (*indicates subtest used in the Feifer Assessment of Writing Screening Form (FAW-SF))

  • Alphabet Tracing Fluency*
  • Motor Sequencing*
  • Copying Speed
  • Motor Planning
  • Executive Working Memory*
  • Isolated Spelling*
  • Retrieval Fluency
  • Sentence Scaffolding
  • Homophone Spelling
  • Expository Writing
  • Copy Editing (optional)
  • Story Mapping (optional)

FAW vs. FAW-SF

FWFAW-SF
PurposeA diagnostic achievement test used to examine the underlying processes that support written language skills in order to identify the presence of a written language disorder and to identify the specific subtype of dysgraphia.Identify children at risk for developmental dysgraphia Can be used as progress monitoring tool
Key Areas of FocusThree subtypes of written language disorder: Graphomotor dysgraphiaDyslexia dysgraphiaExecutive dysgraphiaK-1st grade: Graphomotor demands of the writing process  Grade 2 & above: Cognitive-linguistic demands of the writing process
Age RangePre-K- CollegeGrades kindergarten through college 
TimePre-Kindergarten: 15 minutesGrades K- 1: 20 minutes Grades 2+: 55-65 minutes K-1st grade:15-20 minuteGrades 2 and above: 20 minutes
Scores YieldedProvides an overall Total Index & three target index scoresGraphomotor IndexDyslexic IndexExecutive IndexProves a single index score that indicates the risk for dysgraphia or a written language learning disability and the need for further assessment. 

Transition Planning Inventory-3 Overview & Review

Assessments, Life Skills and Transition Planning, ,
The Transition Planning Inventory - Third Edition

The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) of 1990 instituted a transition mandate for students receiving special education services.  IDEA 2004 expanded on this to include planning across all areas including community participation, independent living, and continuing education. The Transition Planning Inventory, now in its 3rd edition, was designed to address these mandates. As described in the TPI-3 Administration and Resource Guide, the primary purpose of the TPI-3 is “to assess the transition needs, strengths, preferences, and interest of students at the secondary level” (Patton & Clark, 2021, 14*)   The domains covered within the TPI-3 are working, learning, & living. 

Information is gathered from:

Core Rating Forms 

  • Three forms (Student, Home, and School) Each form contains 57 statements related to transition planning.
  • Each form is organized according to 11 planning areas; Career Choice & Planning, Employment Knowledge & Skills, Post Secondary Training/ Education, Functional Communication, Self Determination, Independent Living, Personal Money Management, Community Involvement & Usage, Leisure and Recreation, Health, & Social/Interpersonal Relationships.

Preference &  Interest Forms

  • Intended to gather information about a students preference and interest
  • Two versions available; basic (intended to be used early in the transition process) and advanced (intendended to be administered when a student is close to leaving school).
  • An optional Home Preference and Interest Form is also available.

Information is compiled through:

Profile & Further Assessment Recommendation Form

  • All information is summarized on this form consisting of 6 sections; 1.) general information, 2.) likely setting for postsecondary outcomes, 3.) student’s preference, interests, and strengths, 4.) results of other assessments, 5.) student profile, 6.) further assessment and information.

Summary of Performance Data

  • The purpose of this form is to give users a quick and easy way to compile the information required by IDEA into a Summary of Performance (SOP) document.  

Overall, the TPI-3 provides a comprehensive means to gather key information from all major players in order to create and implement a meaningful transition plan.

Quick Facts

Age Range: 14-21

Administration Time:
Student Rating Form:

  • 15-20 minutes to complete independently
  • 25-30 minutes if administered orally and/or with support.

The Home Core Rating:

  • 15-20 minutes to complete independently
  • 25-30 minutes if administered orally and/or with support.
  • The School Rating Form 10-12 minutes

Student Performance & Interest Form:

  • 10 to 15 minutes to complete independently
  • 20-25 minutes if administered orally and/or with guidance.

Profile & Further Assessment Recommendation Form

  • 10-15 minutes

Publication Year: 2021

Authors:
James R. Patton
Gary M. Clark

Administration Type: Individual

Scoring: Inventory rated on a scale from 0 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree)

*Patton, J. R., & Clark, G. M. (2021). Transition Planning Inventory Administration and Resource Guide (3rd ed.). Pro-Ed.