HELP- Hawaii Early Learning Profile: A Guide to Assessment

HELP- Hawaii Early Learning Profile: A Guide to Assessment

Presentation by Lisa Anne Flaherty

Dr. Hernandez

SPED 216 Fall 2014

Purpose of the HELP

What Kind of Test is the HELP?

HELP: The Assessment

Things to Know About the HELP Assessment

• The HELP assessment is a curriculum based assessment
• Criterion-referenced
• It is not a standardized test and does not have validity or reliability data available
• It does not result in a number score
• The nature of the assessment is an observational checklist and is designed to give the professional a tool for ongoing assessment and planning

• The purpose of the HELP Assessment is:
• To be used as a curriculum based assessment
• To provide guidelines for understanding a child's skills within their environments and relationships
• To put families at the center of the assessment process of their children's skills

What Does the HELP Assess?

Who Can Use the HELP? Do I Need Additional Training?

Is This a Group or Individual Assessment?

How Much Time Will I Need?

HELP Supports Early Intervention Legislation

HELP Hawaii Early Learning Profile

• Authors: Stephanie Parks, MA
• Contributors:
• Marie Celeste, EdD, Lisa A. Dannemiller, PT, DSc, PCS, Gillian M. Donaldson, MA, CCC-SLP, Robin E. Gold, MS, OTR/L
• Publisher VORT Corporation
• Date of Publication: 1992, 2006
• Edition of Test/Assessment: Second Edition

The test is comprised of 6 testing domains as follows:

• Cognitive Development
• Language
• Gross Motor Development
• Fine Motor Development
• Social-Emotional and Self-Help
• A Regulatory/Sensory Organization section was added in the second edition to assess how the child self-regulates, processes the environment, and organizes sensory experiences

The HELP includes 685 developmental skills and behaviors to observe during assessment.

These skills were field tested by a variety of programs developed for infants and toddlers with disabilities in 35 states and 7 countries.

• HELP is developed for professionals to use in conjunction with families and in some cases members of an interdisciplinary team.
• No additional training is specified in the HELP manual.

The HELP assessment is designed to be an individual assessment for infants and toddlers under Part C of IDEA. (0-3 years.)

• HELP be administered on males and females, and is designed for children ages 0-3
• The HELP allows flexibility to promote cultural relevance complete with family interview questions included in the Preface section to assess which strands and/or skills are relevant and which are not

According to the HELP manual, the assessment should take about an hour to complete.

• There are guidelines and suggested steps in the manual that break the assessment block into 5 sections:
• Free-play/warm up (10-15 minutes)
• Structured facilitation (15-30 minutes)
• Movement/motor activities (10-15 minutes)
• Feeding and snack time (10-20 minutes)
• Closing period following assessment
• The assessment can go from 45 minutes and should not last longer than 90 minutes maximum.

• Since HELP is a curriculum based assessment, it is linked to curriculum activities developed for parents and professionals to help foster and support positive interactions with the child and to support the child's development.
• HELP is also linked to Part C of IDEA through section 636 requirements, (a) Assessment and Program Development and (d) Content of Plan.

HELP Materials At a Glance

How Much Do HELP Materials Cost?

• Inside HELP Manual 0-3: $64.95
• HELP Strands 0-3: $3.50
• HELP Family Centered Interview: $2.00
• HELP 0-3 Charts: $3.50
• HELP 0-3 Checklists: $3.50
• HELP At Home (2nd Addition): $89.95
• HELP Activity Guide: $34.95
• HELP When the Parent Has Disabilities: $39.95

Photo Source: http://www.vort.com/HELP-0-3-years-Hawaii-Early-Learning-Profile/

Reference: http://www.vort.com/HELP-0-3-years-Hawaii-Early-Learning-Profile/

HELP for the HELP

The Domains and Strands are listed and clearly divided into sub-topics within strands/skills.

HELP and Students

This assessment offers guidance for the evaluator with clear, visual cues and guidelines:

Is the HELP Fair?

Reliability and Validity

Is the HELP Useful?

Here there are icons to reference BEFORE and DURING assessment:

• The Family Friendly icon indicates an explanation of the strand or skill during assessment that would be better interpreted or understood by parents or non-professionals.
• The Professional FYI icon indicates an explanation for the evaluator during assessment that may be helpful while conducting an observation.
• The Parent Questions icon offers some questions the evaluator can ask the family during assessment to get the best, most meaningful information from the child's caretakers.

HELP in Action: Video Administration on 17 Month Old Typically Developing Male

There is no reliability or validity data available for this assessment.

Also included:

• The General Child Assessment Procedures Icon indicates assessments that will cover all items or skills in that particular strand, or that can be assessed at the same time.
• The Credit Notes icon clarifies how you can use the marks during assessment to show presence or absence of skills.
• The Assessment Materials icon lists any materials that may be necessary for the testing activity.

It is HELPful to review these icons prior to testing to be prepared and knowledgeable!

The HELP Assessment was written based off of developmental milestones of typically developing children.

The suggested age in months are calculated by assessing when the skills typically BEGINS in a child's development.

Scoring Your HELP Assessment

Strengths and Weaknesses of the HELP

The items on the HELP assessment are designed to be used as an ongoing assessment for teachers, therapists, and families.

It can also be used together with another norm-referenced test to provide a standard score.

Considerations/adaptations for disability:

• Each section of the test specifies adaptations for each skill.
• For specific adaptations, it is recommended the test be done in conjunction with a specialist such as an OT, PT, or SLP.
• For very specific adaptations, the section will explain the item numbers with an example.
• For example, in section 3-2 titled "Supine"- "Infants who are blind tend to keep their heads centered with minimal movement in supine and prone. Therefore, item #3.02 "Turns head to both sides in supine" may not be spontaneously observed.""

Considerations for Language and Culture

Weakness

Here there are icons to reference BEFORE and DURING assessment:

• The Sample Functional Outcomes icon provides possible statements of outcomes for each behavior or skill being assessed. These are to be used as a guide while working with families.
• The Transactional Assessment icon helps identify any environmental or caretaker interactions that may affect the skill or behavior.
• The Identifying and Interpreting Needs icon helps the evaluator and family find out why a certain skill may be interpreted as "atypical" or "delayed".
• The Assessment Adaptations icon shows examples of any specified adaptation for special needs.

HOWEVER... the HELP assessment is a comprehensive curriculum based assessment that links assessment skill ID numbers and curriculum planning tools. This is a great tool for teachers or interventionists to use while planning instruction and assessment based interventions.

*Concurrent Validity in Curriculum Based Assessments:

In a later addition to the HELP publication by assessment author Stephanie Parks Warshaw (2013), the skills assessed HELP are compared "with two norm referenced assessments were examined with infants and preschoolers who had diverse developmental delays. Results supported the concurrent validity of CBA’s and showed that when compared to the five other CBA’s, the HELP showed the most moderate and representative results and provided an exact match with the Gesell Developmental Schedules (norm referenced assessment) criterion."

Not norm-referenced and does not produce a standardized or cutoff score

Interpreting Your HELP Assessment

"Max"

Weakness

10/28/14

Considerations:

• Assessment administered in child's home with both parents present
• Child was not feeling well over the weekend and getting over cold
• Child was very distracted and tired

• This assessment is an observational checklist and is not scored
• It can be used in conjunction with other standardized or norm-referenced tests to obtain standard scores for development or skills
• There is an accompanying chart to illustrate the developmental strands in accordance with the child's chronological age

References

Weakness

No data supporting validity of the HELP checklist items

Strength

• There have been no formal considerations or adaptations for language and culture, however this assessment is based heavily on the families and encourages the assessor to involve families every step of the process.
• This may imply that the professional would need to be proficient in the family's native language or have an available translator or interpreter.

Lang, W., & Malcom, K. (2014). HELP Checklist (Hawaii Early Learning Profile). Mental Measurements Yearbook with Tests in Print, 11 (19840101).

Parks Warshaw, S. (2013, December 1). Hawaii Early Learning Profile, HELP 0-3 Embracing Evidence Based Practices.

The scores are marked as follows:

• + for skill observed or reported
• - for skill not observed or reported
• +/- for emerging skills
• A to note atypical or dysfunctional nature of skill
• N/A for not applicable or appropriate
• O is used to indicate for skills that may have been compromised by caretaker/environmental interactions

Observational methods are seen as lacking and passive, untrained individuals such as parents could miss behaviors to be observed

Sample HELP Chart with Corresponding Strands and Age Ranges

With 685 skills listed, HELP produces a large sample of behaviors and skills exhibited by the child

Weakness

Strength

*Reference: http://www.vort.com/supportFiles/HELP_0-3_Evidence_Based_Practices.pdf

Weakness

Helpful in planning intervention and monitoring a child's progress over an extended period of time

Items on checklist are not objective enough to suggest reliability between observers

The length of the assessment can be too long when administered

There are two columns for assessments on two different dates, along with corresponding strand numbers and page numbers to find full explanations of skills to reference during testing

Reference: Lang, W., & Malcom, K. (2014). HELP Checklist (Hawaii Early Learning Profile). Mental Measurements Yearbook with Tests in Print, 11(19840101).