The direct baseline assessment is required prior to enrollment at TIPES to establish the learner’s skill level in a variety of areas (e.g., receptive and expressive language, social skills, play skills, academic skills, and living skills). This assessment is specific to the TIPES setting and will cover specific skills that aren’t always included in psychoeducational assessments conducted outside of TIPES. Guardians may, however, provide TIPES with any additional assessments conducted previously, as this may help to inform the initial TIPES assessment.

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Please note: the fee for baseline assessments is anywhere from $1000–$3000. This fee includes the following:  

• The initial caregiver meeting  

• Preparing the materials for the assessment  

• The direct assessment, that can take around three hours  

• Reviewing the assessment results  

• Writing the assessment report  

• Caregiver meeting to review the findings  

• System navigation support

  

The initial assessment consists of a variety of assessment tools including the ABLLS-R, Carolina Curriculum, VB-MAPP, ESDM, PEAK, and direct instruction assessments. In addition to providing baseline data on the learner's skills, the initial assessment also identifies any challenging behaviours that could interfere with the learner's education and identifies effective reinforcers used to provide incentives for learning.   

  

The initial assessment is scheduled over one or two separate appointments and includes the use of non-standardized and standardized tools. The length of the initial assessment depends on the learner’s age and skill set. Once the information has been documented and analyzed, an assessment report is written detailing a baseline of the learner’s skills and their immediate goals for programming.

Program selection will be based on the initial assessment.   

  

When the initial assessment is complete, guardians are contacted to discuss the results and recommendations for the most effective treatment plan.   

  

Please note, initial assessments are valid for six months. If guardians decide to postpone their admission to TIPES six months past the date when the initial assessment was complete, they are required to complete another assessment.