Convergent and discriminant validity of a naturalistic observational assessment of children's hand skills

Objective/Background: This study sought to investigate the convergent and discriminant validity of a new naturalistic observational Assessment of Children's Hand Skills (ACHS) in children with and without disabilities. Methods: The participants were 134 children aged 2-12 years in Taiwan, and 70 had known disabilities. Outcome measures included the ACHS, one daily living skills questionnaire, and three instruments related to hand skills. Discriminant validity was assessed by comparing the ACHS scores between children with and without disabilities. Convergent validity was examined using a correlation analysis between the ACHS and daily living and hand skills measures. Results: Children with disabilities had significantly lower ACHS scores than typically developing children. The ACHS correlated moderately to highly with the daily living skills questionnaire and demonstrated a varied range of correlations with the three related instruments. Conclusion: Preliminary evidence for the convergent and discriminant validity of the ACHS was established. The findings indicate that the ACHS can be used with confidence in measuring and differentiating children's hand skill performance in real-life contexts.