The Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (AMPS) is an innovative observational assessment that is used to measure the quality of a person’s activities of daily living (ADL). The quality of the person’s ADL performance is assessed by rating the effort, efficiency, safety, and independence of 16 ADL motor and 20 ADL process skill items.

The ADL motor and ADL process skill are analogous to the goal-directed actions defined under the Activities and Participation domains of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (World Health Organization [WHO], 2001), and are thus the small units of performance that when carried out, one by one, result in the overall task being completed.

More specifically, within the context of performing chosen, familiar, and life-relevant ADL tasks:

• ADL motor skills are test items used to rate the level of skill observed when one moves oneself or task objects.
• ADL process skills are test items used to rate the level of skill observed when one (a) selects, interacts with, and uses tools and materials, (b) carries out individual actions and steps, and (c) modifies performance when problems are encountered.

For example, as people prepare jam sandwiches, some of the actions they must carry out include: (a) walk to the cupboard, (b) find and select the correct bread (search/locate, choose), (c) reach for, grasp (grip), and lift the bag of bread, (d) transport the bread to their workspace, (f) effectively hold and open the bread by removing the twist tie (handle, manipulate, coordinate), (g) initiate the next step of putting jam on the bread, (h) spread the jam with an appropriate amount of force so that the bread does not tear or crush (calibrate), (j) use a knife (not a spoon) to cut the sandwich, and (k) clean up the workspace (restore).