Does Handwriting Matter? Measuring Autistic Students’ Written Expression Skills

Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) can be used for screening and progress monitoring academic skill development, including written expression skills (WE-CBM). While research on CBM use with autistic students is growing, questions linger regarding its use with autistic students. One question is whether autistic students’ WE-CBM scores are impacted by handwriting legibility, especially since fine motor challenges are common in the population. This study explored the potential relationship between handwriting legibility and WE-CBM scores among elementary-age autistic children. Thirty-three WE-CBM samples were collected from 10 children as part of a prior study and then scored using the Handwriting Legibility Scale (HLS). Handwriting legibility in this sample scored, on average, in the “fair” range, but within-student performance varied widely. Within-student correlations between handwriting legibility and writing performance ranged from r = −.54 to .94, with handwriting legibility accounting for between 3 and 88% of the variance in writing outcomes. The considerable variability in how these skills covaried across participants underscores the need for continued focus on writing measurement in ways that inform and support individual development and measurement of writing skills in this population.