Assisting Hand Assessment (AHA)

The Assisting Hand Assessment (AHA) measures how well a child actually uses their weaker hand as a helper during two-handed activities — holding a jar steady while the other hand unscrews it, for instance. It was built for children with a one-sided impairment, most often unilateral cerebral palsy or a birth-related brachial plexus injury.

The child plays through a semi-structured session with a standardized set of toys, and the session is video recorded. A certified rater later scores 20 items from the video on a 4-point scale, from "does not do" to "effective." Rasch analysis converts the raw total into AHA units on a 0–100 scale. Because it measures typical performance rather than best capacity, it captures what a child spontaneously does, not what they can do when prompted.

• Cerebral Palsy Alliance review of the Kids-AHA

Licensing Notes: Certification is required, and the manual is sold only during the certification course. Test kits are sold online and can be ordered only by certified raters or enrolled course participants.

Learn More: The AHA is the anchor of a whole family of related tools: Mini-AHA for infants 8–18 months with unilateral CP, HAI (Hand Assessment for Infants) for 3–12 months at risk of CP, BoHA (Both Hands Assessment) for bilateral CP at MACS levels I–III, Ad-AHA Stroke for adults with acquired hemiparesis, and AHA-UP for people with upper limb difference with or without a prosthesis.