Baseline
What a child can do before support starts, measured rather than described. Without one, nobody can prove later that anything changed.
Why a baseline matters.
This is the single most skipped step in the sector, and skipping it is convenient for the provider. Without a baseline, progress becomes a matter of impression — and impressions, at the end of an expensive year, tend to be generous.
A baseline does not need to be elaborate. "Puts on shoes with two verbal prompts, four mornings out of five" is a baseline. "Struggles with independence in the mornings" is not, because there is no version of next term that could contradict it.
Questions that get a real answer
- What is the baseline for each goal, in numbers?
- Who took it, and when?
- When will it be re-measured?
Ask these of anyone, including us. What you are listening for is not the right answer — it is whether the answer is specific enough to be wrong.
Terms that usually turn up alongside it.
BCBA
An internationally certified behaviour analyst, qualified to design and supervise behaviour programmes. The
GlossaryDevelopmental delay
Reaching milestones significantly later than expected, in one area or several. A description of where a child
GlossaryDifferentiation
A teacher adjusting how something is taught so more of the class can access it — different materials
Send it to us and we'll translate it.
Any report, from any provider, including ones we have nothing to do with. We will tell you in plain English what it says, what it recommends, and which parts are actually supported by the evidence in it. No charge, and it does not make you a client.