The Early LAP

The Early Learning Accomplishment Profile (Early LAP) provides a systematic method for observing children functioning in the birth to 36 month age range. The purpose of this criterion-referenced assessment is to assist teachers, clinicians, and parents in assessing individual skill development in six domains of development: gross motor, fine motor, cognitive, language, self-help, and social emotional. The results of the Early LAP can be used to generate a complete picture of a child’s developmental progress in the six domains so that individualized, developmentally appropriate activities can be planned and implemented. This assessment can be used with any infant and toddler, including children with disabilities.

Age Range

The Early LAP is appropriate for children functioning in the birth to 36 month age range.

Administration

Administration procedures

Structure of Early LAP

The Early LAP contains a hierarchy of developmental skills arranged in chronological sequence in six domains of development:

Gross Motor
Fine Motor
Cognitive
Language
Self-Help
Social Emotional

Developmental Age

The approximate developmental age range is indicated left of the first item for each age range.

Behavior

Each item is numbered and described. The initials in parentheses below the item refer to the original source as described in the previous section.

Materials/Procedures

The materials and procedures column has two parts. All materials needed to administer the item are listed above the procedures. The procedures for administering each item are located below the list of materials. Spoken words or phases are in bold and should be followed as closely as possible.

Criteria

The criteria column provides information for determining whether responses should be credited. These criteria should be used in determining whether or not the child has successfully completed the task.

Score

A score indicating the child’s success or failure of the item should be recorded in this column. A plus (+) is used for items successfully completed. A minus (-) is used when the child does not meet the item’s criteria. A date indicating when the child mastered an item can be recorded for ongoing observation.

Comments

A space is provided for specific comments regarding the particular item. Explanations of any modification of procedures, questions about the appropriateness of an item for a specific child, or use of adaptive equipment/materials should be explained in this column.

Reporting ELAP Assessment Results

Assessment and Observation Summary Sheets

Forms to summarize the progress of individual children at the beginning, middle, and end of the program year are provided in the back of the scoring booklet. Each form contains space to indicate skills the child has achieved, emerging skills, and strategies for supporting skill development at home. Teachers should share this information with parents during face-to-face home visits or parent conferences. Strategies for increasing skill development at home should be jointly developed by the parent and teacher. Since this is a summary of a child’s current level of functioning, teachers may want to choose a limited number of skills (e.g., 3-5 items) for each developmental domain. For example, the last three skills the child accomplished in each domain could be listed under “acquired skills” and the first three skills the child did not demonstrate could be listed under “emerging skills.”

Profile

For a visual representation of the child’s developmental skills, use the profile form on the back of the LAP-R Manual or Scoring Booklet.

Technical Qualities

Technical Qualities (Adobe PDF format)

Early LAP Assessment Materials

Early LAP Manual

The Early LAP manual forms the core of the assessment. The manual includes

a materials list for each domain
procedural instructions for administering individual items
scoring criteria for each item
summary pages
an IFSP form, and
a developmental profile page.

Early LAP Scoring Booklet

Early LAP scoring booklets can be used for recording the results of the assessment. The scoring booklet contains an abbreviated form of each item name in the same sequential order as the manual and space for scoring assessment results, a comment column, and a developmental profile. The Early LAP scoring booklet is NOT an assessment instrument. It must be used in conjunction with the Early LAP Manual, which contains the procedures, materials needed, and scoring criteria for each item.

Early LAP
Assessment Kit

The dimensions of materials needed to administer the Early LAP are specified at the beginning of each assessment item. The materials can be gathered by the examiner, or for more consistent results, a standard Early LAP Kit can be purchased from the publisher, Kaplan Press. The Early LAP Kit includes most of the necessary materials (except large items such as furniture or stairways).

Early Learning
Activity Cards

The Early Learning Activity Cards are a set of 414 sequential cards correlated with the Early LAP, one card for each item in the six domains. Each card describes step-by-step procedures for supporting skill development as well as one or more developmentally appropriate activities.

Spanish Materials

Early LAP materials are available in Spanish, including the manual, scoring booklet, and Early Learning Activity Cards.

Product Support

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions concerning

Support Request

To receive help with an issue not addressed in the FAQ, e-mail
bhardin@chtop.org

Chapel Hill Training Outreach Project, Inc.

Kaplan
Red-e SetGrow

"Measuring success
one child at a time."