TEMPA

The TEMPA measures what an older person can actually do with their arms and hands, using tasks from everyday life rather than pegboards. Picking up and moving a jar, pouring water from a pitcher, handling coins, unlocking a lock, writing on an envelope and sticking on a stamp, shuffling and dealing cards.

Nine tasks are performed, some with one hand and some with both. Each is scored three ways. Speed of execution is timed. Functional rating captures how well and how independently the task was done. Task analysis breaks the performance down into strength, range of motion, precision of gross and fine movements, and grasp — which is what turns a slow time into a treatable finding.

• Psychometric properties of the TEMPA for the assessment of arm motor activity capacity in hemiparetic Japanese patients after stroke

Licensing Notes: Published in the Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy (1993). The evaluator's guide circulates freely.

Learn More: Note also that speed is recorded at both a relaxed pace and maximal speed in that younger-adult work.