Teaching · Related Services

Just hard enough,
one change at a time.

A grading tool for occupational therapists and teachers: choose a fine motor task, set it along the dimensions that make it hard, and get the next step up and the next step down, with a session log to show when to move.

Open the adjusterWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Related Services toolkit, $99 for 96 items.

The adjuster

The worked example is scissor cutting for a made-up student, FM-03, with five weeks of logged sessions. Change anything; your work saves in this browser.

Loading the adjuster. If nothing appears, turn on JavaScript.

What you get

Teaching · Related Services$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
Three versions of a fine motor task (easier, current and harder), each written out for every dimension and printable as task cards, plus a log by student code with a graph and a next-step note for each student and task.
Who it is for
Occupational therapists, certified occupational therapy assistants, special education and early childhood teachers, and paraprofessionals working on fine motor goals with an OT.
Format
Browser tool. Prints task cards and the session log; downloads the log as a spreadsheet (.csv); export and import a file to move between devices.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Related Services toolkit ($99) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Related Services space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Load the worked example, or start blank.
  2. Pick a task, then set each dimension to where the student works now. Arrow keys move along each level row.
  3. Read the easier and harder versions. Each changes one dimension; make either the current version with one click.
  4. After a session, log the trials, how many were done correctly and the most help the student needed.
  5. Check the graph and next-step note, and print the task cards for whoever runs the practice.

Open the adjuster

How grading works here

The terms, and the rule behind the easier and harder versions.

Grading an activity

In occupational therapy, grading means changing the demands of an activity step by step so it stays challenging but possible, sometimes called the just-right challenge. This page grades along six dimensions: size of objects and targets; resistance, the force a tool or material needs; precision, how exact the movement must be; bilateral demands, what the helper hand does while the lead hand works; force grading, how finely the student controls the amount of force; and in-hand manipulation, moving objects within one hand by translation, shift or rotation. Each task uses the four or five dimensions that matter most for it, at four levels.

The harder version raises the dimension that is lowest now, and the easier version lowers the one that is highest, so the task stays balanced. Change one thing at a time so the data shows what made the difference.

The log and the next-step note

Each session records trials, the number done correctly and the most help the student needed, from independent to full physical assistance. The note suggests the harder version after two sessions in a row at the current version at or above your criterion (80 percent unless you change it) with no more than a verbal cue, and the easier version after two in a row under 40 percent. These are prompts for the team's judgment, not rules.

This is a practice tool, not a treatment plan or an evaluation. Goals, methods and progress decisions belong to the student's occupational therapist and team.

Sources

  1. American Occupational Therapy Association (2020). Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process (4th ed.). American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 74(Suppl. 2). Activity analysis and grading activity demands.
  2. Case-Smith, J., and O'Brien, J. C. (Eds.) (2015). Occupational Therapy for Children and Adolescents (7th ed.). Elsevier. Grasp, in-hand manipulation (translation, shift, rotation), bilateral coordination and scissor skill development.
  3. Exner, C. E. (1992). In-hand manipulation skills. In J. Case-Smith and C. Pehoski (Eds.), Development of Hand Skills in the Child. American Occupational Therapy Association. The classification of translation, shift and rotation.

The worked example is made up. Sizes are approximate. Use only materials that are safe for the student; small beads, coins and lentils are choking hazards for young children and for anyone who mouths objects. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.