1. For each outcome listed:
a. Determine which HELP skills and behaviors are most relevant for achieving that
outcome. These will usually be the skills/behaviors which were rated as emerging,
not achieved, atypical, and/or achieved but circled because the family needs additional
support in this area.
b. Be sure to integrate skills from all areas of
development.
c. If you are using the HELP Strands, you can usually assume that the "next
step" in a strand will be the next skill in the strand that the child has not
yet mastered.
d. Review family resources which are most relevant for achieving outcomes. These
should be readily available from the HELP Family-Centered Interview.
2. Use Inside HELP to refine or pinpoint the most
appropriate intervention strategies.
a. Review Transactional Assessment data to
identify if interventions related to the environment and/or parent-child interactions
are
needed to achieve outcomes.
b. Use Assessment Adaptations when appropriate as intervention strategies.
c. Review Identifying and Interpreting Needs for Intervention for strands which the
child displayed significant concerns or delays. This section can provide insight
into underlying needs to help determine the most appropriate
disciplines and strategies.
3. Use HELP curriculum materials to choose a variety of activities designed to support
targeted skills to achieve outcomes. All HELP skills are cross-referenced to HELP
curriculum materials. The HELP
curriculum materials, although cross-referenced to specific skills, do not focus
on teaching "to the test." Instead, HELP activities focus on the underlying
concepts and skills that lead to functional skills and outcomes. Skills are listed
in numerical order in HELP curriculum materials. If you are using HELP Strands, use
the Cross-Reference Index on pages 376-379 in Inside HELP to match skill ID#'s with
page numbers in HELP at Home.
HELPful Tips
If the outcome is: "Danny won't become hysterical when his mother leaves the
room," then the applicable HELP skill areas to target might be (depending upon
child's development):
Cognition: Object (people) Permanence: remembering that the parent still exists even
when out-of-sight.
Motor: crawling to search for parent from one room to another.
Auditory Localization: being able to find the parent when hearing her voice.
Language: Vocalizing rather than crying to attract parent's attention.
Social-Emotional: providing parents additional anticipatory guidance related to separation
anxiety.
Applicable family resources could be:
"Family home has intercom system so Danny can hear parents from other rooms."
"Mother has had experience dealing with separation anxiety with Danny's older
sister but it was not this extreme."
If the "child is unable to lift head in prone":
a. Transactional Assessment, e.g., if there are no interesting objects for child
to look at, interventions may include adapting the environment.
b. Assessment Adaptations, e.g., if child has reflux, implement interventions in
prone before feeding.
c. Identifying and Interpreting Needs for Intervention: If child has neuromotor or
musculo-skeletal problems which interfere with the development of controlled extension,
a pediatric therapist should be involved in planning and implementing therapy
activities.
HELP curriculum materials to help achieve outcomes include:
a. HELP at Home: ready-to-use activity sheets which you can individualize and copy
for families.
b. HELP Activity Guide: in-program
activities and strategies.
c. HELP When the Parent has Disabilities: suggestions for adapting child interventions
to include family members who have a disability.
