Ages: 2nd through 5th Grade Test Type: Criterion-referenced with standardized administration procedures Testing Time: 15-20 minutes
Here's How I Write (HHIW) is a different kind of assessment tool in which the student assesses his/her own handwriting and becomes an active participant in setting goals for improvement.
HHIW consists of a picture-card interview in which a child is presented with 24 cards, one at a time, sampling various aspects of handwriting. Nineteen of the 24 items relate to specific performance features of handwriting, such as staying on the lines, letter formation, letter and word spacing, size of letters, use of correct case, use of page margins, ability to accurately copy, and automaticity. Two items involve the child's feelings about writing (affective items), including "I like to write," and "I feel that I write well," and three items relate to physical factors contributing to writing including body posture and stabilizing the page with the nonwriting hand.
HHIW targets children in second through fifth grad who are in need of Response to Intervention Tier 2 and Tier 3 intervention, or those referred for occupational therapy assessment for consideration of a related service as a result of handwriting difficulties. It is a criterion-referenced handwriting assessment, with standardized administration procedures.
The Manual itself is packed full of helpful information; the research that substantiates the validity of the self-assessment approach, the relationship to the educational requirements of Public Law and Response to Intervention, Case Studies involving school children and, most important, many intervention strategies directly related to the specific handwriting problems revealed by the student's self-assessment.