Ever wondered what the most common school-based OT assessments are? Look no further! I’ve gathered my fave ones I’ve used over the years with students as young as 3 all the way up to 21+ in transition programs! Plus, I put this question out to the wider Dynamic School OT community to see what they had to say as well. (Psst…join us.) Whether you’re brand new to school OT or you’re seasoned, the next time you’re unsure what assessment to use with a student, check out this (almost) exhaustive list to help you make your decision!
BOT-2 (Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, Second Edition)
Focus: A variety of fine and gross motor skills
Year Released: 2005
Age Range: 4:0 – 21:11
Scores: Age-based standard scores, percentile ranks, age equivalents, and descriptive categories
Completion Time: 30 – 60 minutes
PDMS-2 (Peabody Developmental Motor Scales, Second Edition)
Focus: A variety of fine and gross motor skills
Year Released: 2000
Age Range: Birth through 5
Scores: Standard scores, percentile ranks, and age equivalents
Completion Time: 30 – 60 minutes
SFA (School Function Assessment)
Focus: A comprehensive caregiver checklist of occupations in the school environment
Year Released: 1998
Age Range: Kindergarten through sixth grade
Scores: Criterion-referenced ratings
Completion Time: 30 – 120 minutes (for respondent filling out assessment)
Beery VMI (Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration, Sixth Edition)
Focus: Quick test of visual and motor integration
Year Released: 2010
Age Range: 2:0 – 99:11
Scores: Standard scores, percentiles, and age equivalents
Completion Time: 15 – 30 minutes
REAL (The Roll Evaluation of Activities of Life)
Focus: A comprehensive caregiver checklist of ADLs and IADLs
Year Released: 2013
Age Range: 2:0 – 18:11
Scores: Standard scores and percentile ranks
Completion Time: 15 – 30 minutes (for respondent filling out assessment)
TVPS-4 (Test of Visual Perception Skills, Fourth Edition)
Focus: A comprehensive visual-perceptual skills measure
Year Released: 2017
Age Range: 5 – 21 years
Scores: Scaled scores, percentile ranks, and age equivalents for each subtest and for overall performance
Completion Time: 30 – 90 minutes
DTVP-3 (Developmental Test of Visual Perception, Third Edition)
Focus: Visual perception and visual-motor integration
Year Released: 2013
Age Range: 4:0 – 12:11
Scores: Scaled scores and composite scores
Completion Time: 30 minutes
WRAVMA (Wide Range Assessment of Visual Motor Abilities)
Focus: Visual spatial, fine motor skills, and visual-motor integration
Year Released: 1995
Age Range: 3 to 17 years
Scores: Scaled scores, standard scores, age-equivalent scores, and percentiles for each subtest; visual-motor integration composite score when all three subtests are administered
Completion Time: 10 – 30 minutes
M-FUN (Miller Function and Participation Scales)
Focus: Motor skills, visual-perception, and participation with school-related tasks
Year Released: 2006
Age Range: 2:0 – 7:11
Scores: Standard scores, percentile ranks, age equivalents, and progress scores
Completion Time: 20 – 60 minutes
SP2, SC (Sensory Profile 2, School Companion)
Focus: A comprehensive caregiver checklist of sensory processing in the school environment
Year Released: 2014
Age Range: 3:0 – 14:11
Scores: Percentiles and descriptive classifications
Completion Time: 15 – 30 minutes (for respondent filling out assessment)
SPM-2 (Sensory Processing Measure, Second Edition)
Focus: A comprehensive caregiver checklist of sensory processing in the home and school environment
Year Released: 2021
Age Range: 4 months to 87 years
Scores: Standard scores and raw scores, standard scores (T-scores), percentile scores, DIF scores
Completion Time: 20 – 40 minutes (for respondent filling out assessment)
Students You Might Use this With: This is another option if you’re looking for a formal assessment on sensory processing. Like the Sensory Profile, always pair this with lots of observation of the student in their natural environment in order to appropriately assess function. Something else to keep in mind – at the time of this writing, the SPM-2 is available for preorder, so it may be worth waiting for the updated version to come out if you’re planning to order new assessments.
ETCH (Evaluation Tool of Children’s Handwriting)
Focus: Quick test of handwriting skills on various tasks
Year Released: 1995
Age Range: First through sixth grade
Scores: Criterion-referenced ratings
Completion Time: 15 – 30 minutes
DeCoste Writing Protocol, Second Edition
Focus: Tool that examines a child’s ability to write & type and the factors that influence success with these tasks
Year Released: 2015
Age Range: No ages listed
Scores: Informal results related to speed, spelling, and other mechanics of writing
Completion Time: 30 minutes
COPM (Canadian Occupational Performance Measure, Fifth Edition)
Focus: Outcome measure for a client’s self-perceptions of their participation in occupation
Year Released: 2014
Age Range: 6 – 65
Scores: No scores per se; client and therapist collaboratively set goals and outcomes
Completion Time: 15 – 60 minutes
DAYC-2 (Developmental Assessment of Young Children, Second Edition)
Focus: Checklist/observation-based assessment that looks at developmental delay in five major areas
Year Released: 2012
Age Range: Birth through 5
Scores: Standard scores, percentile ranks, and age equivalents
Completion Time: 30 – 60 minutes
SCOPE (The Short Child Occupational Profile, Version 2.2)
Focus: Occupation-focused assessment that examines a child’s volition
Year Released: 2008
Age Range: Birth through 21
Scores: Informal measures of performance
Completion Time: 10 – 20 minutes
GOAL (Goal-Oriented Assessment of Lifeskills)
Focus: Structured ADL and motor tasks that can be used to develop a treatment plan
Year Released: 2013
Age Range: 7 to 17 years
Scores: Standard scores and progress score
Completion Time: 45 – 60 minutes
TVMS-3 (Test of Visual-Motor Skills, Third Edition)
Focus: Standardized assessment of visual-motor skills
Year Released: 2014
Age Range: 3 to 90+ years
Scores: Standard scores, percentile ranks, and age equivalents
Completion Time: 20 – 30 minutes
While there are more tools out there, these are the most common school-based OT assessments you’ll encounter! One note I do want to make is that any formal assessment in the school system should always be paired with excellent & robust informal assessment – think classroom observation, activity analysis, student & caregiver interview, etc. And, if you’re looking to tie it all together and get better at school-based OT evaluations, I’d love to have you join my course, The Dynamic School OT! Doing a thorough and legally defensible assessment is just one of the many topics we cover in this comprehensive course. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me at thedynamicschoolot@gmail.com.
Did I miss one of your favorite assessments? Come discuss in my Facebook group!
Can you check what is listed as the focus for the ETCH? Not sure that’s correct.
You’re totally right! Not sure what happened, but I’ve updated it now. Thanks for pointing that out!