Evaluation Tool of Children’s Handwriting (ETCH)

The ETCH looks at how a child actually writes during the kinds of tasks a classroom demands — not letter formation practiced in isolation, but writing the alphabet from memory, copying from a page and from a board, taking dictation, and composing a sentence of their own.

Two versions match what is being taught: the ETCH-M for manuscript in grades 1 and 2, and the ETCH-C for cursive in grades 3 through 6, which adds a manuscript-to-cursive transition task. Legibility is scored separately for letters, words, and numerals, and reported as percentages. Speed is timed. Alongside the scored tasks, the examiner records pencil grasp, hand preference, pencil pressure, tool manipulation, and classroom observations.

• Shirley Ryan AbilityLab's Review with Task and Score Breakdown

Learn More: The ETCH is criterion-referenced, it describes what a child does rather than ranking them against a normative sample.