Occupational Therapy Screening Test

by:
Occupational Therapy for Children
&
Learning Skills 4 Kids

Purpose:

We are frequently asked by parents, teachers, RTLB’s, SLS, Senco’s if a child would
benefit from occupational therapy. In order to answer this question, we need to do a full
assessment. However as we don’t want to assess children unnecessarily, a screening test
enables us to identify children at risk for Occupational Therapy. Results of the screening
test allow us to ascertain whether a child would benefit from a full occupational therapy
assessment.

A full assessment covers the following areas in depth:

Visual Perceptual Assessment
Gross and fine motor Assessment
Handwriting Assessment

Following the full assessment, a written report and a discussion with parents and
teachers is completed. Thereafter an individual therapy programme is designed for the
child.

Full screening - Occupational Therapy for Children -

http://www.occtherapy4kids.co.nz/download/index.shtml

Any questions can be emailed to: Fiona@occtherapy4kids.co.nz

© Learning Skills 4 Kids & Occupational Therapy for Children 1

 Occupational Therapy Screening Test

Instructions for Screening Test

1. Please print off the .pdf files -

Set 1 - children from 4.10 years to 7 years old
Set 2 - children 7 years and older.

2. Please have a pencil for the child to use.

3. Follow the instructions on the top of each page.

4. Some pages will need to be folded in half.

5. Administration time: - Handwriting section - 5 - 10 minutes

Visual perceptual section - 15-20 minutes

Outcomes:

When scoring the screening test, see Answers .pdf:

Occupational Therapy Screening Test Answers Set 1

Occupational Therapy Screening Test Answers Set 2

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 Occupational Therapy Screening Test

Handwriting Score:
A referral for a full Occupational Therapy assessment is recommended if:

-the child scores the response “NO” for 10 or more items within the
legibility section.
-the child scores the response “NO” for 3 or more items within the
mechanics of handwriting section.

Visual Perception Score:

A referral for a full Occupational Therapy assessment is recommended if
the child scores any of the combinations below:

Set 1 - 4.10 years up to 7 years old

Visual Discrimination - less than 12 out of 15 correct.

Visual Closure - less than 7 out of 9 correct.
Visual Motor Integration - less than 3 out of 4 correct.
Spatial Relationship (Position in space)-
less than 16 out of 20 correct.
Visual Analysis - less than 3 out of 4 correct.

Set 2 - 7 years and older

Visual Discrimination - less than 15 out of 15 correct.

Visual Closure - less than 7 out of 9 correct.
Visual Motor Integration - less than 3 out of 4 correct.
Spatial Relationship (Position in space)-
less than 16 out of 20 correct.
Visual Analysis - less than 6 out of 6 correct.

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Letter legibility:
For the letters to be legible all of the following are needed:

Letter Formation - forming letters and numbers correctly.

Horizontal Alignment - keeping letters and numbers sitting on the line correctly.

Size - using the correct size letters i.e.

Small letters sit on the bottom line and go to the halfway line.

Tall letters sit on the bottom line and touch the top line.

Hanging letters sit on the bottom line with the hanging stick or hook below the line.

All capital letters sit on the bottom line and touch the top line.

Spacing of words and letters – using the correct spacing between both words and letters.

Examples of illegible handwriting.

Incorrect letter formation

Incorrect spacing Incorrect spacing Incorrect horizontal alignment -

between words between letters letter sitting on the line letter

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 Examples of Mechanics of Handwriting.

Pencil Grips:
.
Correct grip Incorrect grip

Sitting position:

Posture:
The child’s feet should be flat on the ground.
If the chair is too high, use a box or stool under his/her feet.
Forearms must rest on the desk.
The child’s head should be kept in the middle (midline of the body).

The correct paper position is different depending on whether your child is

right or left handed.

Right-Handed child:

Paper slanted to the left at 20-30° angle.

Close to the midline of the body.
Hold your paper at the TOP with your left hand
(Do not use the writing hand to also keep the paper stable.)

Left-Handed child:

Paper slanted to the right at 40-45° angle.

The right edge of the paper MUST not cross the midline of the
body.
Hold your paper at the TOP with your right hand
(Do not use the writing hand to also keep the paper stable.)

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Visual Perception - Visual perception involves how we interpret what we see.

Visual perceptual processing, or visual information processing, is a set of skills we use to

gather visual information from the environment and integrate them with our other senses.
This is done while incorporating all the integrated information with other things, such as
past experiences, motivation and development, so that we can derive understanding and
meaning from what we are experiencing. This process allows the development of schemes
to derive meaning from what we see.

Visual perceptual processing is very important, but especially so when learning.

Without visual perceptual processing, you would not be able to:
 accurately learn to read,
 give or get directions,
 copy from the board or from a book,
 visualize objects or past experiences,
remember things visually,
 have good eye-hand coordination,
 integrate visual information with our other senses to do things like ride a bike,
play ball,
 hear a sound and be able to visually recognize where it is coming from
(like an ambulance), just to name a few.

Visual perceptual processing can be broken into three components - visual spatial
skills, visual analysis skills and visual integration skills.

Areas of visual perception and definitions How it relates to school work

Visual Discrimination – ability to see Differentiating between circles and oval,
likenesses and differences, recognition, letters, words, symbols (+, -)
categorisation. Poor visualisation decreases visual
registration of the world.

Visual Analysis – the integration of visual Trouble learning the alphabet

perceptual skills and position in space, which Trouble recognizing words
underlies the ability to competently Mistakes words with similar beginnings
complete scholastic tasks. Confuses minor likenesses and
differences
Does not recognize the same word if
repeated again on a page
Trouble with remembering and writing
letters and numbers

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Areas of visual perception and definitions How it relates to school work

Visual Closure – visualising the end product. Needs to see complete presentation of
what he/she is going to copy.
Inability to see “c” turn into “d”

Visual Closure – visualising the end product. Needs to see complete presentation of
what he/she is going to copy.
Inability to see “c” turn into “d”

Form Constancy - recognition of the Slow to master the alphabet and

dominant features of certain shapes or numbers.
figures when they appear in different sizes, Recognising errors
shaping and positions. Recognising letter/word in different
print.
Eye-Hand Co-Ordination - to be able to Poor pencil control in handwriting.
guide the hand visually to complete a task. Slow speed in handwriting

Visual Motor Integration – co-ordinating Difficulty with:

the eyes with the muscle of the body. Catching, throwing and kicking a ball
difficulty
Copying from the board
Writing
Cutting out

Spatial Relationship – understanding the Reverses “b” “d”

space around himself/herself. Reads “tap” instead of “pat”
Difficulty with left/right top/ bottom
Geometry is challenging
Difficulty with correctly aligning columns.
Spacing of work, adapting to the space on
a worksheet.
Consistency in letter size

Position In Space - knowing where your Difficulty with directions

body is in space, in relationship to things Difficulty with size
around you. Geometry is challenging
Difficulty with correctly aligning columns.
Spacing of work, adapting to the space on
a worksheet.
Consistency in letter size

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 Occupational Therapy Screening Test

NAME:___________________________________ DATE: _____________

AGE: __________________________

HANDWRITING LEGIBILITY AREAS YES NO

1 Forms all lower case letters correctly (circle the incorrectly
formed letters)
a, b, c, d, e ,f, g, h, I, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z
2 Forms all upper case letters correctly (circle the incorrectly
formed letters)
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W,
X, Y, Z,
3 Forms all numbers correctly (circle the incorrectly formed
numbers)
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19,
20
4 All letters and numbers sit on the line correctly
5 Size of letters and numbers are consistent
6 Spaces between letters are consistent and correct
7 Spaces between words are consistent and correct
8 Uses capitals letters in correct place
9 Starts writing at the margin on all lines
10 There are no letter or number reversals
11 Writing is easy to read
12 Finishes written tasks on time

MECHANICS OF HANDWRITING
1 Holds pencil correctly (tripod grip)
2 Sit correctly- sits with straight back both arms on table,
feet flat on the floor
3 Generally sits still during writing tasks
4 Stabilises paper with non dominant hand at top of page at all
times.

5 Holds pencil with a relaxed grip. (not tight)

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 Occupational Therapy Screening Test

NAME:___________________________________ DATE: _____________

AGE: __________________________

Set 1 - 4.10 years up to 7 years old

VISUAL PERCEPTUAL AREAS CORRECT TOTAL

Item 1 - Visual Discrimination (4 out 5 lines correct)
Item 2 - Visual Discrimination (4 out 5 lines correct)
Item 3 - Visual Discrimination (4 out 5 lines correct) 15
Item 4 - Visual Closure (4 out 5 correct)
Item 5 - Visual Closure (3 out 4 correct) 9
Item 6 - Visual Motor Integration (3 out 4 correct) 4
Item 7 - Position in Space (8 out 10 correct)
Item 8 - Position in Space (8 out 10 correct) 20
Item 9 - Visual Analysis (3 out 4 correct) 4

Set 2 - 7 years and older

VISUAL PERCEPTUAL AREAS CORRECT

Item 1 - Visual Discrimination (5 out 5 lines correct)
Item 2 - Visual Discrimination (5 out 5 lines correct)
Item 3 - Visual Discrimination (5 out 5 lines correct) 15
Item 4 - Visual Closure (4 out 5 correct)
Item 5 - Visual Closure (3 out 4 correct) 9
Item 6 - Visual Motor Integration (3 out 4 correct) 4
Item 7 - Position in Space (8 out 10 correct)
Item 8- Position in Space (8 out 10 correct) 20
Item 9 - Visual Analysis (3 out 3 correct)
Item 9 - Visual Analysis (3 out 3 correct) 6

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