AHA Assessments

Overview of our assessments and how to use them

The Assisting Hand Assessment (AHA) was the first test specifically developed for use with children and adolescents (18 months – 18 years of age) with a unilateral impairment such as unilateral cerebral palsy (hemiplegia) or birth related brachial plexus palsy (BBP). The AHA was further developed for younger children with unilateral CP aged 8-18 month, called the Mini-AHA, as well as a version for even younger infants (3-12 months) at risk of cerebral palsy, the Hand Assessment for Infants (HAI).

For children with bilateral cerebral palsy with a manual ability corresponding to MACS levels I-III, the Both Hands Assessment (BoHA) was developed for the age range 18 months – 12 years.

For adults with an acquired hemiparesis after stroke the Ad-AHA Stroke was developed and adjusted to suit adult or young adult stroke victims.

The most recent AHA-family assessment is the Assisting Hand Assessment for people with Upper-limb difference with or without a Prosthesis (AHA-UP). In this test both children and adults with a unilateral below elbow deformity, amputation, or users of different types of prostheses can be assessed (not yet released, manuscript in progress).

The table below shows a summary of the different AHA-family assessments.

Summary of the AHA-family assessments
	HAI	Mini-AHA	Small kids AHA	School kids AHA	Ad-AHA	BoHA	AHA-UP	Ad-AHA Stroke
	HAI	Mini-AHA	AHA 18 - 18			BoHA	AHA-UP	Ad-AHA Stroke
Age and diagnostic group	3-12 months	8-18 months	18 months – 5 years	6 – 12 years	13 – 18 years	18 months – 12 years	18 months – adults	Adults
Age and diagnostic group	Infants with clinical signs of CP or at risk of developing CP	Children with clinical signs of unilateral CP	Children with unilateral CP or OBPP		Adolescents with unilateral CP	Children with bilateral CP	People with upper limb differences with or without prosthesis	Adults with hemiparesis after stroke
Purpose	Measures each hand separately and both hands together.	Measures affected hand as used together with the non-affected hand				Measures each hand separatley and both hands together	Measures affected hand as used together with the non-affected hand
Test activity	Self selected toys to be approved		AHA test kit	2 board games (fortress and alien theme)	Ad-AHA Board game Sandwich, Present tasks	AHA test kit 2 board games	AHA test kit 2 board games Ad-AHA Board game Sandwich, Present tasks	Ad-AHA Board game Sandwich, Present tasks
Items	12 unimanual and 5 bimanual items	20 items				11 unimanual and 5 bimanual items	20 items
Type of test	Criterion- and normreferenced	Criterion referenced