DASH/DASH 17+ and DASH 2 Update
The STEC Committee has noted a marked difference in scores between DASH (2007), DASH 17+ (2010) and the recently published DASH 2 (2024). However, it is not appropriate to make direct comparisons for 2 reasons:
- It is 17 years since the normative data for DASH was collected, and 14 years for DASH 17+. Over this time there has been an increase in the use of technology for writing, likely associated with a decrease in the use of handwriting. As a result, the indication of decreased handwriting speed over the period of 14-17 years since the previous publications, is not unexpected. It is partly due to such societal changes that professional bodies (including the British Psychological Society and American Educational Research Association) recommend that test norms are updated every 10-15 years and that test users employ the most recent editions available.
- Since various revisions have been made to the tasks in DASH-2, comparing the different versions is not recommended. The revisions include new sentences for copying, an additional topic for the Free Writing task, some revisions in administration (e.g. demonstrations and prompts) and updated scoring guidelines.
SASC would always recommend that assessors should use the most recent version of any test. Therefore DASH/DASH 17+ will be withdrawn from the SASC list from June 2025.
4 November 2024