Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting, Second Edition

For the DASH-2 standardization, all test materials were printed on white paper. As any changes made to the materials may affect the examinee’s results, these types of modifications are not generally recommended. However, when a student uses colored paper or overlays for their usual way of working, you may decide that adapting the test in this way is appropriate. When reporting and interpreting the test results, the change must be noted and commented on.

Sentences A1 (for ages 8-16) and A3 (for ages 17-25) should be used the first time an individual is being assessed. When you are re-assessing, check the previous Record Form and confirm that the correct sentence was used. Then use the alternate form when repeating the test.

No; do not omit the time marks as this would change the way the tasks are administered and reduce the amount of useful information gained from the test (e.g. the profile of wpm during the 10-minute free writing task). If you feel making the time mark has had an effect on the student’s result, the disruption should be noted and commented on in your report.

Handwriting speed may vary across different writing tasks. DASH-2 was designed to be a comprehensive measure of legible handwriting speed, therefore it includes a range of tasks involving different writing demands. Ideally all tasks should be completed, however parts of DASH/DASH 17+ have been used successfully for different purposes. For example, the Copy Best and Copy Fast tasks have been used outside of the DASH as part of a broader writing/dysgraphia assessment.

Yes. The standardized sample included those with English as their primary language and those with English as an additional language (EAL). However, any student who was unable to understand English (i.e. follow instructions, interact with the examiner, attempt all tasks) was excluded from the sample. Examiners should always use their professional judgement to ascertain whether a slow handwriting speed may be associated with language issues.

Yes, you can. The fact that DASH-2 includes both an overall measure of handwriting speed as well as scaled scores for a variety of tasks with differing demands makes it ideal for assessing progress in this area. Also, the supplementary scores can be used as measures of change.

Yes, you can. Guidelines are provided to help you prepare for and administer a remote assessment. See this link for further information on telepractice, DASH-2 and further resources Telepractice and the DASH and DASH 17+

The formal scoring instructions in the manual should be followed as if the student wrote for the full 10 minutes. Take the total number of words written, divide by 10 to calculate an average wpm score and find the appropriate standard score from table B1. However, it may also be useful to calculate a wpm score which is based on the total amount of time that the examinee actually wrote (e.g. a student who wrote X words then stopped after 3 minutes would have a formal score of X/10 and an “informal” score of X/3. A comparison of these two scores may be helpful in your interpretation of the formal test results.

All standardization tests aim to include a representative proportion of individuals with various educational/clinical characteristics in the sample. The DASH-2 sample included some individuals with dyslexia. In addition, a separate validation study was undertaken which compared a group of individuals with a diagnosis of dyslexia to a typically developing group matched on age, sex and parent/caregiver educational level. The results confirmed that DASH-2 was suitable for students with dyslexia.

Some assessors have used the DASH-2 tasks informally to gather information on typing speed. However, these tasks were not designed for this purpose, and no normative data exists on typing for the DASH-2 tasks. Additionally, assessors should consider the potential implications of repeated use of the tasks when interpreting their findings, such as:

• If the same sentence is copied for both handwriting and typing, the material will be more familiar on the second testing occasion. This familiarity may result in the sentence being retrieved from memory rather than actively copied.
• If the same Free Writing topic is used to assess both handwriting and typing speed, the examinee may recall previously generated ideas, words, and phrases. This recall could make their writing flow more easily and influence performance, particularly if the time interval between completing the two versions of the task is short.
• The order of testing (handwriting first or typing first) and the time interval between the handwriting and typing assessments may affect the outcome and should be considered when interpreting the obtained scores.

If, after considering these factors, assessors decide to use the DASH-2 to compare handwriting and typing speed, it would be preferable to use an alternative Free Writing topic and different sentences for copying during the second administration. Even then, results must be interpreted with caution, as no research has been conducted on using these tasks as a typing assessment, and additional factors may need to be considered.