Fading
Deliberately reducing prompts, adult proximity or session frequency as a child becomes more independent. It should be scheduled in the plan, not improvised when a family raises the cost.
Why fading matters.
Fading is the mechanism by which support ends. If it is not written into the plan at the start, the default is that support continues at the same level indefinitely — and everybody's incentives point that way, because reducing hours is the one action that costs the provider money.
The test is whether anyone can show you the schedule. "We reduce support as the child progresses" is a sentiment. "Adult moves from beside to across the room in week six, out of the room for the first twenty minutes in week ten" is a plan.
Questions that get a real answer
- Can I see the fading schedule in writing?
- What is the trigger for each reduction?
- What happens if a reduction does not hold?
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.
Generalisation
A skill working outside the place it was taught — with a different adult, in a different room, on a different
GlossaryIEP
The school's own written plan for a child — targets, provision and review dates. Outside support should work
GlossaryIntensity
How much support, how often. The number most commonly inflated in this sector, which is why our
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.