Exit criterion
The condition that has to be true for a stage of support to end, agreed in writing before that stage starts. If a provider cannot tell you theirs, they do not have one.
Why an exit criterion matters.
This is the question the whole of this business turns on. Support with no written ending is not support, it is a subscription — and the absence of an exit criterion is almost never malicious. It is simply what happens when nobody is required to write one.
A real criterion describes a state of the world: "managing the transition into class without an adult present, across two consecutive weeks." A duration is not a criterion. "We usually see families for about two years" tells you about the provider's business, not about your child.
Questions that get a real answer
- What would have to be true for this support to end?
- Who decides that it has been met?
- What happens to the fee when it is?
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.
Expressive language
What a child can put out — words, sentences, gestures, signs, anything that gets a message across. Distinct
GlossaryFading
Deliberately reducing prompts, adult proximity or session frequency as a child becomes more independent. It
GlossaryGeneralisation
A skill working outside the place it was taught — with a different adult, in a different room, on a different
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.