The concurrent validity and reliability of the Prewriting Assessment

Handwriting is a skill required for successful classroom engagement, with mastery of prewriting patterns a key stage of its early development. Currently, there are limited tools evaluating prewriting ability. The Prewriting Assessment is one tool clinicians can use, which involves children copying eight pictures constructed from prewriting patterns. This study aimed to determine the psychometric properties of the Prewriting Assessment.

A cross-sectional research design was used, involving 54 typically developing 4- to 5-year-olds enrolled in Western Australian kindergartens. Participants were assessed using the Prewriting Assessment and Developmental Test of Visual Perception (Third Edition) Visual Motor Integration subtests. To determine test-retest reliability, 21 of the 54 participants were retested 2-4 weeks later. To determine intra-rater reliability, 20 samples were rescored by the same assessor, and to determine inter-rater reliability, 20 samples were rescored by a different assessor. Analysis included descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation coefficients, Intraclass correlation coefficients, and Cronbach's alpha.

Teachers and occupational therapists working with 4- to 5-year-old children expressed a need for a prewriting assessment and provided feedback on the Prewriting Assessment design.

Criterion validity (concurrent) was demonstrated through moderate to strong correlations between total Prewriting Assessment scores and the Developmental Test of Visual Perception (Third Edition) visual motor integration sum of scaled scores (r(52) = 0.58), copying raw and scaled scores (r(52) = 0.61, and r(52) = 0.55). Intraclass correlation coefficients for the Prewriting Assessment total scores were strongly correlated (0.82 test re-test, 0.92 inter-rater, and 0.97 intra-rater reliability) (p < 0.001). Internal consistency between items on the Prewriting Assessment ranged between moderate and excellent (Cronbach's alpha = 0.84-0.96).

The PWA has established reliability and concurrent criterion validity when used with children aged 4-5 years, allowing occupational therapists and teachers to evaluate a child's prewriting ability. Further research could investigate the predictive validity of the Prewriting Assessment.