Hawaii Early Learning Profile (HELP)

Title of Assessment 

• Hawaii Early Learning Profile (HELP)

Author(s) 

• Stephanie Parks with help from Marie Celeste, Lisa A. Dannemiller, Gillian M. Donaldson, and Robin E. Gold

Year of Publication/Publisher 

• 0-3 y/o= 2006

• 3-6 y/o= 2010

• VORT Corporation

Identify Type of Assessment 

• non-standardized

• observation-based

• criterion-referenced

Cost (identify source) & How to Access Assessment (include link if possible) 

•  HELP: 0-3 years – Shine Early Learning 

  • $164.50 for "essential set"

• HELP: 3-6 years (2nd Ed.) Extends beyond HELP 0-3 – Shine Early Learning 

  • $189.50 for "essential set"

Population (who it is appropriate for [age, diagnosis, etc.])  

• Birth to 3 y/o OR 3-6 y/o

• all children in early intervention services for 0-3

• autism

• ID/D

• sensory processing challenges

• all children 

Appropriate Settings (potential practice settings appropriate to administer assessment in) 

•  school-based

• home health

• outpatient OT

• Inpatient OT

Purpose of Assessment & Function(s)/Area(s) Assessed  

•   The HELP is used in many settings to assess a child's needs, track growth, progress, and development, and work with caregivers and healthcare providers to determine the next steps. This is curriculum-based. This assessment targets 6 main areas:

  • • regulatory/sensory organization

    • cognitive language

    • gross-motor

    • fine-motor

    • social-emotional

    • self-help

• The 0-3 includes 685 developmental skills

• The 3-6 involves 585 developmental skills

• This assessment yields developmental age levels (DALs) for each skill

Administration (time to administer, group/individual, if there are subtests, can they be completed individually, are there specific instructions to ensure standardization, etc.) 

•  Time will vary depending on the number of areas getting rated: full length can be 45-90 minutes, but partial can be 15-20 minutes

• administration is done by observation of the student, parent interview, and playing with the child

User Qualifications  

• A licensed professional with training 

• specialized in pediatrics

• specialized in early intervention 

Materials Required  

• instruction manual

• writing utensil

• scoring sheet

Scoring Procedure (how is assessment scored and what does score indicate)  

•  Children assessed by the HELP assessment use the non-standardized observations to approximate an age-based level of development that the individual is at. These are determined by receiving credit for patterns and strands in each assessment area. The regulatory/sensory organization area is further split into three groups 1) typical, 2) over-reactive, and 3) under-reactive. 

Psychometrics/Standardization (norms, reliability/validity studies) 

• correlation of .97 between HELP, Gesell, and Bayley assessments in developmental ages

• correlation of .74 and .62 between HELP, Gesell, and Bayley in developmental quotients

Strengths & Weaknesses of Assessment  

•    strengths

  • Can be used for a wide variety of disabilities and diagnoses

  • Good psychometrics

•  weaknesses

  •  Observations of the same skill may vary in scoring due to administers interpreting differently

  • Can be lengthy to administer fully 

References 

• Li, Z., Gooden, C., & Toland, M. D. (2019). Reliability and Validity Evidence for the Hawaii Early Learning Profile, Birth-3 Years. Journal of Early Intervention, 41(1), 62-83. https://doi.org/10.1177/1053815118810235 

• Tslat. (n.d.-b). Hawaii early learning profile. TSLAT. https://www.txautism.net/evaluations/hawaii-early-learning-profile

• VORT Corporation. (2006). Inside HELP: 0-3, Administration and reference manual. Palo Alto, CA: VORT Corporation.