Administering and scoring the BOT-2 Short Form takes a qualified examiner about 15 to 20 minutes of active testing, plus roughly 5 minutes of setup. You run 12 standardized items drawn from the Full Battery’s eight subtests, record a raw score for each, then convert those raw scores into point scores, sum them to a total, and translate the total into a standard score and percentile rank using the tables in the examiner’s manual.
Who Is Qualified to Give the Test
Pearson Assessments classifies the BOT-2 as a Level B instrument, so you need the credentials before you can buy the kit. Qualifying backgrounds include a master’s degree in occupational therapy, physical therapy, psychology, education, speech-language pathology, or a closely related field, together with formal training in ethical test administration and interpretation. Certification or full membership in a recognized professional body such as the American Occupational Therapy Association or the Council for Exceptional Children also satisfies the requirement.1Pearson Assessments US. Qualifications Policy
Someone with less training can carry out the hands-on administration and record raw scores, but only under the direct supervision of a qualified user. That qualified user takes responsibility for scoring, interpretation, and any clinical or educational decisions that follow. An institutional affiliation with an accredited school or healthcare facility can also meet Pearson’s purchase requirements, provided interpretation is overseen by someone qualified.
Materials and Testing Space
The published kit includes the examiner’s manual, the physical test materials (wooden blocks, a tennis ball, and other manipulatives), and the Record Forms. The Shirley Ryan AbilityLab lists the kit at $898.2Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, Second Edition Record Forms are consumable; use a fresh one for every individual tested. Pearson sells Complete Form Record Forms in packs of 25 for approximately $80.3Pearson Assessments. Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency Second Edition
Beyond the kit you need a stopwatch for timed items, a tape measure for distance tasks, and masking or painter’s tape to mark floor boundaries for balance and agility tasks. The testing space should be quiet, well-lit, and free from distractions. Plan on at least 15 to 20 feet of clear floor so the individual has room for running and jumping items. Lay the tape lines and any other floor markings before the individual walks in. Fumbling with setup during the session disrupts the standardized flow and can affect performance.
Before the First Item: Demographics and Chronological Age
Fill in the demographic fields on the Record Form first: full name, sex, date of birth, and the date of the assessment. From those two dates, calculate chronological age in years, months, and days by subtracting the birth date from the test date. Every normative comparison that follows is age-specific, so an error here distorts every score downstream. Check the arithmetic before you move to the first task.
Running the 12 Items
Administer the items in the order printed on the Record Form. For each one, deliver the standardized verbal instructions from the manual and demonstrate the movement. Demonstrations are required, not optional, because they confirm the individual understands the task before attempting it. As the person performs each item, record the raw score: repetitions completed, seconds balanced, distance achieved, or accuracy of a drawing, depending on the task.
Do not coach or encourage beyond what the manual permits. Deviating from the scripted instructions, adding extra demonstrations, or giving feedback mid-trial can inflate or deflate scores in ways that make the norms meaningless. If the individual still doesn’t understand an item after the allowed demonstration, record what they produce and move on.
The 12 items are drawn from the eight subtests of the Full Battery, with at least one item representing each subtest, and they group into four motor areas.4Pearson Assessments. Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency Second Edition Brief Form Knowing what each item is testing helps you watch for the behavior that matters while you score.
- Fine Manual Control. Tasks like drawing lines through narrow paths and copying geometric shapes such as a star test control of small hand and finger movements with a writing utensil.
- Manual Coordination. Transferring pennies into a container and catching a tossed ball measure hand-eye synchronization and coordinated use of both hands under time pressure.
- Body Coordination. Jumping in place while tapping feet and fingers assesses balance, bilateral coordination, and the ability to link upper- and lower-body movements rhythmically.
- Strength and Agility. Walking forward on a line, a one-legged side hop, standing on a balance beam, and knee push-ups measure core stability, muscular endurance, and dynamic balance.
The Short Form does not produce separate composite scores for each of these motor areas. It yields a single total point score. You lose the granular breakdown the Full Battery provides and gain a fast, reliable indicator of overall motor proficiency.
Converting Raw Scores to a Total
Once the physical portion is finished, open the conversion tables in the examiner’s manual. Convert each raw score to a point score, then sum the point scores across the 12 items to produce a total point score for the Short Form.
Work through the items one at a time rather than scoring in batches. The conversion rules differ by item, and skipping between tables invites transcription errors. Write each point score next to its raw score on the Record Form, add the column, and double-check the sum before converting the total.
From Total Point Score to Standard Score and Percentile
The total point score converts to a standard score and a corresponding percentile rank using the age-based tables in the manual. This is where the chronological age you calculated at the start matters: the same total point score produces different standard scores at different ages, because the normative sample performance curves upward with development. The normative sample for the BOT-2 includes 1,520 individuals across the 4-to-21 age range, stratified by age, sex, and demographic characteristics to match the U.S. population.2Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, Second Edition
The percentile rank tells you where the individual sits relative to same-age peers. A percentile rank of 50 means the person performed as well as or better than half the sample, which is dead average. Scores at or below roughly the 16th percentile (one standard deviation below the mean) generally signal that motor skills lag far enough behind peers to warrant the Full Battery or another in-depth evaluation. Many school districts and clinical programs use a threshold of 1.5 to 2 standard deviations below the mean when deciding whether someone qualifies for services under a developmental delay category.
What the Score Tells You
A Short Form score in the average range usually means motor proficiency is not a primary concern, and the examiner can document the finding and close the screening. A below-average score does not by itself diagnose anything; it flags that something warrants a closer look. The most common next step is administering the BOT-2 Full Battery, which produces separate composite scores for each of the four motor areas and breaks performance down across the eight subtests, giving a more detailed picture of where specific weaknesses lie.
The formal report summarizing scores and recommendations generally takes one to two weeks to complete and distribute, so build that lead time into the schedule if the result is feeding into a parent or team meeting.
When You Can Retest
Pearson recommends waiting at least three months between BOT-2 administrations. At that interval, score differences are more likely to reflect genuine developmental progress or the effects of therapy than short-term variability. During test development, the authors found minimal mean differences even with retest intervals as short as 19 to 20 days, and because the BOT-2 is performance-based with no guessing component, practice effects are unlikely to distort scores. The three-month minimum gives the clearest picture of real change, especially for younger children where development moves quickly.5Pearson Clinical. BOT-2 Retesting Advice
If you are tracking progress through an intervention, plan assessment windows at regular intervals, every three to six months is typical. Document the dates and intervals in the individual’s record so anyone reviewing the data later can account for timing when comparing scores.