Hawaii Early Learning Profile (HELP:0-3)

The Hawaii Early Learning Profile: 0-3 (HELP:0-3) is an assessment tool used to evaluate children ages 0 to 3 in multiple areas of development. The domains of development assessed by the HELP:0-3 are cognitive, expressive and receptive language, gross motor, fine motor, social-emotional, and self-help skills. The HELP:0-3 is a criterion-referenced assessment that includes 685 developmental skills and behaviors to be tracked over time. The HELP:0-3 does not provide standard scores; therefore, the scores are compared to the individual's prior scores if they have previously been assessed with the HELP:0-3. 

The assessment includes a family-centered interview and activities to determine a child’s initial data or growth from their previous evaluation. The interview allows the clinician to ask the child’s family about the skills and behaviors their child demonstrates during their activities of daily living. The clinician can then administer up to ten activities to help assess the 685 skills or behaviors of the child. The clinician can then input the data collected from the family-centered interview and the activities into the checklists to determine the child’s strengths and weaknesses in the six areas of development assessed. 

Although the HELP:0-3 provides clinicians with a detailed report of a child’s development, it does not allow clinicians to diagnose children who present with mild developmental delays. A benefit to using the HELP:0-3 is that it can provide a comprehensive profile of an individual’s strengths and weaknesses in the six domains over a long period of time since there is also a HELP for ages 3 to 6. The manual for the HELP:0-3 costs $69.95 and the required checklists, activity guide, and interview questions cost no more than $56 total. Compared to many other speech-language assessment batteries, the HELP:0-3 is of relatively low cost. 

Overall, the Hawaii Early Learning Profile: 0-3 is a relatively inexpensive assessment for clinicians looking for a detailed developmental profile that can be tracked over a period of time.