May 2026
February 2026
AOTA DDSIS Quarterly February 2026 Edition
Occupational Therapy’s Role in School-Based Deaf Education Programs: A Focus on Fine Motor Development of American Sign Language Handshapes
Lindsay Hufford, OTD, OTR/L is a school-based occupational therapist who is completing research in the fine motor skills development of American Sign Language in a Northeast Ohio Deaf Education Preschool.
Kelsie Whalen, OTD, OTR/L is a school-based occupational therapist who completed Gallaudet University’s Graduate Certificate focused on Deaf and Hard of Hearing Infants, Toddlers, and their Families.
Background
The special education category of Hearing Impairment/Deafness is considered a low-incidence diagnosis. According to Gallaudet Research Institution’s most recent Annual Survey of Deaf and Hard of Hearing (d/DHH) Children and Youth (2013), approximately 40% of d/DHH students nationwide receive special education services for one or more disabilities. A study by Peterson et al. (2023) found that approximately 65% of d/DHH students had one or more conditions that qualified them for special education services outside the categories of hearing impairment and deafness. Students with multiple disabilities may receive related services for physical impairments related to fine and gross motor development. Established standards exist related to developmental fine motor skills. Fine and visual motor assessments used in school-based practice include the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration- Sixth Edition (Beery & Beery, (2010) Peabody Developmental Motor Scales-3 (Folio & Fewell, 2023) , Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, Second Edition (Bruininks & Bruininks, 2005), and Developmental Assessment of Young Children, Second Edition (Voress & Maddox, 2013). Additionally, various assessments exist for evaluating the development of American Sign Language (ASL) Skills. They include the SKI-HI Language Development Scale (LDS), Third Edition (Tonelson, 2020), MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (MB-CDIs), Third Edition (Marchman, Dale, & Fenson, 2023), Visual Communication and Sign Language Checklist (VCSL), First Edition (Simms, Baker, & Clark, 2013), and Kendall Conversational Proficiency Levels (P-Levels) (French, 1999). However, there are no normed standards or assessments specifically related to fine motor skill development in ASL.
Sanzo, Greer, & O’Connell (2022) created a document for practitioners to determine the impact of motor skills on sign articulation. It’s called the Language First Motor Skill Chart and Resource 2nd Edition: Impact of Motor Skills on Sign Articulation (Language First, n.d.). Of note, ASL production errors can be linguistic-based (phonological) or motor-based (articulatory). This resource assesses motor-based ASL articulation errors and identifies implicated articulators (i.e., hands, arms, wrist, fingers, torso, and face/head) and which component of articulation is affected (i.e., Handshape Formation, Place of Articulation, and Path of Movement). Additionally, Greer and Ofori-Sanzo (2024) created the American Sign Language Articulation Test (ASL-AT), which is an informal assessment of how a d/DHH child articulates words in ASL. Students are presented with stimulus cards and target words. The stimuli target specific movements of the shoulder, elbow, forearm, wrist, and digits. This assessment is intended to identify articulation errors only. It is not intended to identify phonological or linguistic errors. These informal assessments are useful in determining specific fine motor development needs of students in Deaf Education programs. However, there is no evidence-based intervention program directly supporting the fine motor development of American Sign Language handshapes. As part of a doctoral capstone project, an occupational therapist within a large Metropolitan School District and an occupational therapy doctoral student collaborated to address the fine motor development needs of students who use ASL.
Capstone Program Development
Various elementary Deaf Education teachers reported implementing daily fine motor centers to the OT capstone student during semi-structured interviews (A. Gagliardi, personal communication, February 7, 2025; H. Cole, personal communication, January 31, 2025). Center activities included tracing/drawing on an easel, name writing, word scavenger hunts, popsicle stick letter formation, letter/number puzzles, dot marker art, and building letters/shapes using magnetic building tiles. Related directly to ASL handshape development, teachers reported using the strategies outlined below.
- ASL Man is a program that a Teacher of the Deaf (TOD) adopted after attending a professional development course hosted by Todd Czubek, the co-author of a Bilingual Grammar Curriculum that focuses on ASL/bilingual programs. In ASL Man, the TOD introduces weekly signs that coordinate with the lessons. The TOD and ASL interpreter show the students the sign, has the students sign it, and then has the students identify where on the ASL man that sign belongs. ASL Man supports handshapes of students because it specifically works on the location and articulation of handshapes (A. Gagliardi, personal communication, February 7, 2025). A photo of ASL Man program is included in Appendix A.
- The handshape game is a weekly activity that specifically focuses on the handshape itself. In the game, the TOD will give students a handshape, like handshape 5, for example, and
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students must go around in a circle giving different signs that use that handshape (i.e., “mom”, “fine”, “moose”) (A. Gagliardi, personal communication, February 7, 2025).
● The letter of the week is implemented in the preschool Deaf Education classroom. Every Monday, the teacher and ASL interpreter will pick a letter of the week and go over how to sign that letter, visual phonics, and different words that start with that letter. Throughout the week, they will complete different activities that have to do with that letter, such as tracing and writing that letter (H. Cole, personal communication, January 31, 2025).
Some students on the OT caseload cannot replicate the fine motor handshapes even with daily repetition. There was a need for additional direct support to strengthen isolated hand movements to demonstrate the handshapes. After learning about the current practices and needs, the capstone student created resources to address these needs. The resources included a Fine Motor Skills Development Infographic, Handshape Program Manual, and a play-based assessment of ASL handshapes.
ASL Fine Motor Skills Development Infographic: An evidence-based infographic was made for important team members (TOD, ASL interpreters, paraprofessionals, etc.) that explains handshape development (Appendix B). To be able to address handshape development when teaching ASL, teams need to understand the developmental sequence of the hand muscles. The created infographic was based on an existing resource about fine motor development in ASL. Braem (1990) suggested that the anatomical interdependence of fingers influences handshape acquisition in sign language. Braem (1990) reported that the index finger is the first to show independent movement, followed by the thumb, then the pinky, then the middle and ring fingers. More information about
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this topic can be found in the infographic attached. Knowledge of these stages helps OTPs support ASL handshape development.
● Handshape Strengthening Program Manual: The capstone student created a program manual focused on developmental fine motor interventions for students learning ASL who present with fine motor delays (Appendix C). This program was designed to be play-based and given to educators and families as hand shape strengthening ideas. A program manual was chosen because families and educators would be able to easily access and use it. While creating the program manual, it was important to keep in mind to keep the interventions easily accessible to implement in the classroom or at home with accessible materials.
● Play-Based Assessment: Due to limited research within this population, the OTP at this school obtained IRB approval to research fine motor assessments and interventions. Part of the research project was to create a play-based assessment to evaluate students’ handshapes. Therefore, the capstone student created an ABC animal informal assessment checklist (Appendix D) to use for the research project. This informal checklist included all handshape letters of the alphabet and an animal that goes with each letter. For example, the handshape letter “A” is for a gorilla. When assessing students using this checklist, we will tell them, “Use your fists like this to bang on your chest as a gorilla does!” This assessment does not use ASL signs specifically; it primarily uses handshapes as ASL classifiers. In addition, this assessment requires an ASL interpreter to administer it.
After developing the Handshape Program Manual, the fine motor interventions were delivered individually and in a group setting. The individual sessions were 5–10-minute fine AOTA DDSIS Quarterly February 2026 Edition
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motor warm-ups at the beginning of OT sessions for students who had identified fine motor needs and were enrolled in a Deaf Education program. Some examples of the interventions included:
Manipulating Play-Doh in different ways to inhibit certain finger muscles to create multiple handshape letters.
Finger football with a prompt inside the paper football that the student completes using Play-Doh (i.e., make a pancake out of Play-Doh). During the finger football intervention, there was a strong emphasis on using the middle finger and thumb to flick the paper football, as the middle finger is one of the last fingers to develop.
Finger hopscotch using the students’ vocabulary words. The student was instructed to “hop” with her pointer finger and then middle finger, etc.
The group sessions were provided to all preschool students enrolled in a Deaf Education classroom. An example of a session starter included a “Let’s move our fingers!” warm-up. This warm-up was an animal theme, so students had to use their fingers to quack like a duck, walk like a caterpillar, swim like a fish, etc. Other successful group interventions are listed below:
Make a shape out of Wikki Sticks, trace the shape, and identify that shape in the classroom.
A themed Valentine’s Day intervention where students rolled a large dice with different pictures/words on each side. After rolling the dice, they had to sign the words to their classmates.
Build a classroom sea-life terrarium. Each student scooped kinetic sand and smashed it into the bottom of the tank. After that, each student had to find a sea-life animal that the capstone student hid around the room using tweezer animal catchers. Once found, they
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had to bring it back to the table, sign what animal it was, and then use tweezers to place it in the sand.
Many interventions from the program manual incorporated multiple handshapes within a single activity. For the sea-life terrarium, the handshape “B” or “5” is produced when smashing sand into the bottom of the tank and the handshape “O”, “L”, or ‘F” is produced when using tweezers to place the animals in the sand. Each of these interventions allowed students to strengthen the muscles in their hands through play-based interventions that are easy to engage across educational developmental levels.
OT Call to Action
OTPs have the knowledge and training to address fine motor skills. Additional research and assessments are needed to address the specific handshapes utilized to articulate in ASL. In addition, OTPs need additional training and education in Deaf Culture and with ASL. Additional training and education can happen by implementing lectures within OTD programs or CEUs for OTPs working with this population. It is also important to work as an interdisciplinary team to ensure that students are getting appropriate services to enhance their success in the school setting. Overall, the program development with this capstone project was implemented in alignment with the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework, 4th Edition (OTPF-4), by addressing key domains, such as occupations and performance skills. Given the limited research and lack of standardized assessments for fine motor development in ASL, this project also emphasizes the need for OTPs to engage in occupational justice by advocating for equitable access to evidence-based evaluations and interventions that support communication and academic success for d/DHH students. AOTA DDSIS Quarterly February 2026 Edition
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References
American Occupational Therapy Association. (2020). Occupational therapy practice framework: Domain and process (4th ed.). American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 74 (Supplement 2), 74S2001.
Beery, K. E., & Beery, N. A. (2010). The Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration: Administration, Scoring, and Teaching Manual (6th Ed.). Minneapolis, MN: NCS Pearson.
Braem, P. B. (1990). Acquisition of the Handshape in American Sign Language: A Preliminary Analysis. In: V. Volterra & C. J. Erting (Eds.), From Gesture to Language in Hearing and Deaf Children, (pp 107-127). Springer.
Bruininks, R. H., & Bruininks, B. D. (2005). Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (2nd ed.). Pearson.
Folio, M. R., & Fewell, R. R. (2023). Peabody Developmental Motor Scales–Third Edition (PDMS-3). PRO-ED.
French, M. M. (1999). Starting with assessment: A developmental approach to deaf children’s literacy. Pre-College National Mission Programs, Gallaudet University.
Gallaudet Research Institute. (2013). Regional and national summary report of data from the 2011– 2012 Annual Survey of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children and Youth [Data file].
Greer, L., & Ofori-Sanzo, K. (2024). American Sign Language Articulation Test (ASL-AT). Language First, https://language1st.org/professional-resources/asl-articulation-test AOTA DDSIS Quarterly February 2026 Edition
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Marchman, V. A., Dale, P. S., & Fenson, L. (Eds.). (2023). The MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories: User’s Guide and Technical Manual (3rd Ed.). Brookes Publishing Co.
Language First. (n.d.). Motor skill chart and resource (2nd ed.). https://language1st.org/professional-resources/p/motor-skill-chart-and-resource
Peterson, J. M., Borders, C. M., & Ely, M. S. (2023). Prevalence of educationally significant disabilities among deaf and hard of hearing students. American Annals of the Deaf,167(5), 583–596
Sanzo, K., Greer, L., O’Connell, C. (2022). Motor Skills Chart and Resource (2nd ed.). Language First, https://language1st.org/professional-resources/motor-skill-chart-and-resource
Simms, L., Baker, S., & Clark, M. D. (2013). The Standardized Visual Communication and Sign Language Checklist for Signing Children. Sign Language Studies, 14(1), 101-124.
Tonelson, S. W. (2020). The SKI-HI Language Development Scale (LDS): Instruction Manual (3rd ed.). HOPE Incorporated.
Voress, J. K., & Maddox, T. (2013). Developmental Assessment of Young Children, Second Edition, Examiner’s Manual. AOTA DDSIS Quarterly February 2026 Edition
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Appendix A
ASL Man Program
The image shown below highlights the ASL Man program. After shown an ASL sign, the student identifies where on the ASL man that sign belongs. This program specifically works on the location and articulation of handshapes.
Photo Citation: Hufford, L. (2025). ASL Man
Photo Description: This image shows a white posterboard with a drawing of a man with vocabulary words placed on various parts of his body including his arms, mouth, and signing AOTA DDSIS Quarterly February 2026 Edition
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space or area in front of his face and chest. The drawing of the man includes different colors to represent the location of handshapes (i.e. arm is green, chin, mouth and neck are orange).
Appendix B
Handshape Development Infographic
The following evidence-based infographic was created by the OT student for Deaf Education team members (TOD, ASL interpreters, paraprofessionals, etc.) to explain handshape development.
Image Description: This photo lists the 4 stages of the hand shape development sequence as (1) Anatomical interdependence: The index finger, (2) Anatomical Interdependence: The Thumb, (3) Anatomical Interdependence: The pinky finger, and (4) Anatomical Interdependence: The middle and ring finger. An anatomical photo of the associated muscles is provided with each AOTA DDSIS Quarterly February 2026 Edition
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stage. Stage 1 includes a picture of the extensor indicus, stage 2 includes a picture of the thenar muscles, stage 3 includes a picture of the digiti minimi muscles, and stage 4 includes a picture of the intertendinous connections on the posterior side of the hand.
Appendix C
Handshape Strengthening Program Manual Examples
The following images highlight fine motor interventions included in the Handshape Strengthening Program Manual created by the capstone student.
Image Description: This image provides examples of 3-4 fine motor exercises for the ASL handshapes Dd, Pp/Kk, Hh and Ww. The 4 ASL handshapes include the letter of the alphabet, a picture of the ASL handshape forming that letter, and the fine motor exercises as bullet points. AOTA DDSIS Quarterly February 2026 Edition
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Appendix D
Informal Animal ABC Play-Based Assessment Example
The following images highlight aspects of the Informal Animal ABC Play-Based Assessment created to evaluate students’ handshapes.
Image Description: The images show the informal assessment checklist for recording observations and 3 examples from the assessment. The examples include F: Flick the Fly – an AOTA DDSIS Quarterly February 2026 Edition
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image of a person’s hand ‘flicking’ a fly on a table. M/N/T: Caterpillar, a cartoon apple with a smiling caterpillar who ate through the apple, and X: Monster – an image of a red monster with horns. apple, and X: Monster – an image of a red monster with horns.
Practice Updates
November 2025 Article
Occupational Therapy Resources for Age-Appropriate Transition Assessment in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
Dennis S. Cleary, MS, OTD, OTR/L, FAOTA, is a Senior Researcher for Patient Services Research at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, OH
Andrew C. Persch, PhD, OTR/L, BCP, FAOTA, is an Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004) requires that all eligible students over the age of 16 who have disabilities have an Individualized Education Program (IEP) with goals that focus on life after high school. The transition-focused IEP must be based on an Age-Appropriate Transition Assessment (AATA; Neubert & Leconte, 2013). The focus on postsecondary goals is even more critical for young adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD), who tend to have worse outcomes once they leave high school than their peers without disabilities or even peers with other disabilities (Institute on Disability, 2023).
The AATA includes information on a student’s preferences, interests, needs, and strengths related to independent living, working, and learning, and can include formal and/or informal assessments (IDEA, 2004). Occupational Therapists are experts in the assessment of participation and engagement in daily life. Thus, this federal AATA requirement provides an opportunity to contribute data that informs a student’s postsecondary IEP goals and services. The federal government requires school districts to report both the percentage of students with disabilities who have appropriate postsecondary goals in their IEPs (i.e., Indicator 13) and the participation rates of graduates in work or school after graduation (i.e., Indicator 14). These postsecondary outcomes are an essential quality indicator for school districts and states and provide the occupational therapist an opportunity to be part of a student’s IEP team (Gaumer Erickson et al., 2013).
Occupational therapists have many options when developing evaluation plans for youth and young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Below, we highlight four high-quality AATAs that provide helpful information in the areas of self-determination, work, and functional behavior. Each assessment is valid and reliable, providing scores that can reveal the
utility of transition services and interventions, and falls within the occupational therapy scope of practice.
Self-Determination Inventory (SDI)
The Self-Determination Inventory (SDI; Shogren et al., 2018) is grounded in Causal Agency Theory—an extension of the functional model of self-determination—which underscores the importance of self-determination for individuals across all environments, regardless of disability status. The SDI is therefore suitable for youth and young adults with and without disabilities. Self-report data are collected using the Self-Determination Inventory: Student Report (SDI:SR) for individuals aged 13 to 22, and the Self-Determination Inventory: Adult Report (SDI:AR) for those aged 18 and older. A proxy-report option, the Self-Determination Inventory: Parent/Teacher Report (SDI:PTR), captures perceptions of self-determination from parents or teachers.
The SDI is theoretically aligned with the constructs of the Causal Agency Theory—Volitional Action, Agentic Action, and Action-Control Beliefs—which are operationalized as the Do, Act, and Believe domains, respectively. Causal Agency Theory is consistent with socioecological and self-determination theories that support occupational therapy practice. Respondents indicate their level of agreement with SDI items using a continuous scale ranging from 0 (Disagree) to 99 (Agree). Self-Determination Inventory reports generate scores across the Do, Act, and Believe domains and offer actionable recommendations and skill-building strategies aimed at enhancing self-determination. Occupational therapists are well equipped to use these data to develop transition plans focused on improving postsecondary outcomes.
Vocational Fit Assessment
The Vocational Fit Assessment (VocFit; Persch et al., 2015) was developed to support employment outcomes for individuals with developmental disabilities, ages 18-26, by offering a reliable and valid, person-centered measure of work-related abilities. VocFit employs data visualization techniques to depict an individual’s current functional abilities, align those abilities with potential job opportunities, and measure progress over time. This task analysis-based approach to assessing the fit between personal interests and abilities and occupational and environmental demands is well aligned with core occupational therapy practices and provides another opportunity for occupational therapists to contribute unique information to the transition assessment and planning process.
VocFit includes 133 items organized into 11 subscales: Physical Abilities, Self-Determination, Work Structure, Cognitive Abilities, Computer Skills, Higher and Lower Task Abilities, Communication Skills, Interpersonal Skills, Safety, and General Work Attributes. These items are grounded in the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2 (Newman et al., 2011) and U.S. Department of Labor datasets and were validated by employment experts nationwide. VocFit is designed to assess both the abilities of job seekers and the specific demands of various jobs, facilitating a data-informed approach to vocational matching and development.
The Demands & Abilities Transforming Algorithm (DATA) is a key component of VocFit, designed to transform assessment data into actionable insights for clinical and employment planning purposes. Using this algorithm, VocFit automatically generates individualized Job Matching Reports based on a client’s expressed job interests. These reports visually depict the alignment between a person’s abilities and job demands, highlighting
strengths, potential challenges, and areas for intervention such as targeted training, workplace accommodations, or task modifications.
VocFit’s proprietary job bank includes 275 occupations spanning a wide range of industries. Each job is linked to the U.S. Department of Labor’s MyNextMove.org, which provides supplementary resources, including job overview videos and real-time listings of available positions by zip code. The information provided through VocFit supports shared decision-making among key stakeholders including individuals with developmental disabilities, families, service providers, and employers who are engaged in the person-centered planning and customized employment process. VocFit data tools inform intervention strategies, identify potential barriers, and track progress over time. Occupational therapists are uniquely qualified to interpret and communicate this information to transition teams.
Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory – Patient Reported Outcome
The Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory Computer Adaptive Test (PEDI-CAT; Haley et al., 2011) is well-regarded and widely utilized by pediatric and school-based occupational therapists. The PEDI-CAT assesses the ability to perform functional activities in four domains: (1) daily activities, (2) social/ cognitive, (3) mobility, and (4) Responsibility. It is appropriate for children from birth to young adults up to age 21 and can be used across conditions and settings. Administrative burden is reduced using computerized testing. The first three domains are rated on a four-point scale ranging from “unable” to “easy,” and the Responsibility domain items are rated on a five-point scale to assess transfer of responsibility from parents during adolescence and young adulthood. The PEDI-CAT provides norm-referenced and criterion-referenced scores for each domain. Developed as a caregiver report, the PEDI-CAT provides valuable insights into functional abilities. The Pediatric Evaluation of
Disability Inventory – Patient Reported Outcome (PEDI-PRO; Kramer et al., 2025). Provides youth and young adults with developmental disabilities, aged 14-22, the opportunity to self-report on their own functional abilities and was designed to complement the PEDI-CAT.
Like the PEDI-CAT, the PEDI-PRO generates criterion-referenced scores for the Daily Activity, Social/Cognitive, and Mobility domains. It’s cognitively accessible including simplified language, user-friendly item formatting, realistic visuals, and text-to-speech functionality that enables valid and reliable self-reporting by individuals with developmental disabilities. Items are presented one at a time using a simplified three-point rating scale (“a little hard,” “a little easy,” “very easy”), and include a skip option for tasks that are not applicable. Administration begins with an instructional module “Learn how to use the PEDI-PRO” which includes guided examples, practice items, and direct feedback to facilitate accurate use of the response categories (Kramer et al., 2025).
Items are contextually grounded in everyday occupations such as cooking a meal and going to the doctor and are systematically linked to the three domains. The PEDI-PRO thereby offers youth and young adults with developmental disabilities a meaningful opportunity to express their functional abilities and preferences during the transition to adulthood. Because most pediatric occupational therapists will be familiar PEDI-CAT, they are ideally suited to recommend use of the PEDI-PRO to transition teams seeking validated self-report AATA. These data can inform collaborative planning efforts among youth and young adults, families, and support teams, helping identify essential occupations supporting successful adult outcomes.
Adaptive Behavior Assessment System (Third Edition)
The Adaptive Behavior Assessment System, Third Edition (ABAS-3; Harrison & Oakland, 2015), is a standardized, norm-referenced rating scale designed to assess adaptive
behavior and daily living skills in individuals ranging from birth to 89 years of age. The ABAS-3 is used in clinical, educational, and research settings to evaluate people with developmental disabilities. The ABAS-3 encompasses a comprehensive range of adaptive functioning domains, including Communication, Community Use, Functional Academics, Health and Safety, Home or School Living, Leisure, Motor, Self-Care, Self-Direction, Social, and Work. Each item is rated based on the frequency with which the individual performs the behavior when needed, using a four-point Likert scale. The assessment typically requires 15 to 20 minutes to complete.
The ABAS-3 yields norm-referenced, scaled, and age-equivalent scores, facilitating comparison with same-age peers and aiding in the identification of both strengths and areas in need of support. It aligns closely with the IDEA, making it a valuable tool for educational planning and transition services. Occupational therapists are well prepared to administer the ABAS-3 and may find it particularly useful in identifying deficits in functional areas such as self-care, community participation, and home management (Sullivan et al., 2024). Additionally, the ABAS-3 can be administered at multiple time points to monitor progress and evaluate changes in adaptive functioning over time.
Conclusion
Schools are one of the largest practice areas for occupational therapy personnel, yet less than 8% of students with IEPs receive occupational therapy services during their last years of high school (Eismann et al., 2017). Our scope of practice and skill set are well aligned with predictors for postsecondary success. The AATA requirement provides an excellent opportunity for occupational therapists to demonstrate their unique value on the IEP team. Occupational therapists may contribute to assessments and interventions that support a focus on life after high school. Each of the four assessments presented in this article fit the criteria for AATA and
provide a mechanism for occupational therapists to play a significant role in supporting postsecondary-focused IEPs that address the real concerns of students with disabilities and their families. The ‘cliff’, once a young adult leaves their free and appropriate public education and transitions into adult life, can be very steep, and outcomes remain poor (Institute on Disability, 2023). A thoughtful, future-focused IEP can help ensure a successful transition into adulthood.
References
Gaumer Erickson, A. S., Noonan, P. M., Brussow, J. A., & Gilpin, B. J. (2013). The Impact of IDEA Indicator 13 Compliance on Postsecondary Outcomes. Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals, 37(3), 161-167. https://doi.org/10.1177/2165143413481497
Haley, S. M., Coster, W. J., Dumas, H. M., Fragala-Pinkham, M. A., Ni, P. S., Kramer, J., Feng, T., Kao, Y. C., Moed, R., & Ludlow, L. H. (2011). Accuracy and precision of the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory computer adaptive tests (PEDI-CAT). Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 53, 1100–1106. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8749.2011.04107.x
Harrison, P. L., & Oakland, T. (2015). Adaptive Behavior Assessment System (3rd ed.). Western Psychological Services.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400 et seq. (2004).
Institute on Disability. (2023). 2023 Annual Disability Statistics Compendium. Institute on Disability, Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Statistics. Retrieved from: https://www.researchondisability.org/annual-disability-statistics-collection
Kramer, J. M., Ni, P., Pfeiffer, B., Persch, A., Guerrero Calle, F., Schwartz, A., Barbour, E., & Davies, D. K. (2025). Psychometric properties of the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory – Patient Reported Outcome: A cognitively accessible measure of functional performance. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 67(6), 770–778. https://doi.org/10.1111/dmcn.16117
Neubert, D. A., & Leconte, P. J. (2013). Age-Appropriate Transition Assessment: The Position of the Division on Career Development and Transition: The Position of the Division on Career Development and Transition. Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals, 36(2), 72-83. https://doi.org/10.1177/2165143413487768
Newman, L., Wagner, M., Knokey, A.-M., Marder, C., Nagle, K., Shaver, D., Wei, X., with Cameto, R., Contreras, E., Ferguson, K., Greene, S., and Schwarting, M. (2011). The Post-High School Outcomes of Young Adults with Disabilities up to 8 Years After High School. A Report from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2) (NCSER 2011-3005). Menlo Park, CA: SRI International. Available at http://www.nlts2.org/reports/
Persch, A. C., Gugiu, P. C., Onate, J. A., & Cleary, D. S. (2015). Development and psychometric evaluation of the Vocational Fit Assessment (VFA). American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 69(6), 6906180080p1–6906180080p9. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2015.019455
Shogren, K. A., Little, T. D., Grandfield, E., Raley, S., Wehmeyer, M. L., Lang, K. M., & Shaw, L. A. (2018). The Self-Determination Inventory–Student Report: Confirming the factor structure of a new measure. Assessment for Effective Intervention, 45(2), 110–120. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534508418788168
Sullivan, A. C., Vas, A. K., & Johnson, W. L. (2024). Transition to adulthood: Executive functions and independent living skills in autistic young adults. Occupational Therapy in Health Care, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/07380577.2024.2441230
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