Motor Minds

Motor Classroom Screen

Five minutes · classroom observations · free for teachers, families and therapists

Free 5-minute Motor Classroom Screen

For teachers, parents, and therapists. Think about the last two weeks. Nothing is saved or sent.

Step 1 — Vision first

Squints, covers an eye, or tilts the head to look at work
Loses place when reading or copying from the board
Complains of headaches, blur, or double vision after near work
Writes very close to the page or with the head on the desk

Step 2 — How often have you seen this?

1. Slumps, leans on the desk, or props head on hand during seated work
2. Wraps legs around chair legs or falls out of the chair
3. Tires quickly in gym or on the playground compared with peers
4. Trips or falls more than peers; bumps into door frames
5. Has trouble learning new movement sequences (jumping jacks, skipping)
6. Does not stabilize paper with the helper hand
7. Avoids catching, kicking, or team games
8. Awkward or tiring pencil grasp; switches hands often after age 6
9. Difficulty with scissors, glue, or opening lunch containers
10. Difficulty with buttons, zippers, or shoelaces for age
11. Letters poorly formed, sized, or spaced so work is hard to read
12. Writes much slower than peers or leaves written work unfinished
13. Complains of hand pain or cramping when writing
14. Recent loss of skills, new weakness, or new clumsiness
15. Frequent falls with injury, or one side of the body used much less

This 5-minute classroom screen is an observation-based triage tool. It does not diagnose sensory processing disorder, developmental coordination disorder, ADHD, or any other condition. Use it to decide what to look at next and to start simple supports.