Overview
The Evaluation Tool of Children’s Handwriting (ETCH; Amundson, 1995) is a criterion-referenced assessment of manuscript and cursive writing for students in grades 1 through 6). It is designed for use primarily with students with mild developmental delays, learning disabilities, and mild neuromuscular impairments. The ETCH assesses legibility, speed, letter formation, spacing, size, and alignment. Additionally, it contains observation sections for pencil grasp, pencil management, and classroom behavior. The ETCH consists of the following seven tasks: writing alphabet from memory, writing numerals from memory, near-point copying, far-point copying, manuscript to cursive translation, dictation, and sentence composition. This test is simple to administer in 15 to 25 minutes. Scoring also takes approximately 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the scorer’s familiarity with the scoring guidelines. ETCH results in scores for seven tasks, as well as a composite score for total legibility.
Summary
Age: Grades 1- 6
Time to Administer: 15-25 minutes
Method of Administration: Criterion-referenced; clinician-administered; grade 1 and 2 students write in manuscript; grade 3–6 students write in cursive
Observation sections: pencil grasp, pencil management, classroom behavior
Subscales: Composite Score: Total Legibility
Task Scores: Alphabet from Memory, Upper- and Lowercase; Numerals from Memory, 1–20; Near-Point Copying; Far-Point Copying; Manuscript to Cursive Transition; Dictation; Sentence Composition
Autism Related Research
None found.