Ever wondered what the most common school-based preschool OT assessments are? Look no further! I’ve gathered my favorite ones I’ve used over the years from early intervention students transitioning into preschool all the way up to kids about to begin kindergarten. 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.) So 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!
PS: Looking for assessments you can use with older students? Check out this list.
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
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
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
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
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)
SP2 (Sensory Profile 2)
Focus: A comprehensive caregiver checklist of sensory processing in the school environment
Year Released: 2014
Age Range: Birth – 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)
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
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
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
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
I hope these recommendations for school-based OT preschool assessments were helpful! 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, records review, 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!