Baseline Testing

The SRCC currently offers baseline assessment and psychoeducation for children playing on teams with which we have a partnership. However, if you would like an individual baseline for your child, please email us at concussion@uwindsor.ca. 

Baseline Testing Procedures

Once the date and time of the baseline assessment has been confirmed with your team, the SRCC will contact you with information about next steps. 

Baseline sessions take place at the University of Windsor’s Human Kinetics (HK) computer lab. The HK building is off College Ave, with parking along the east side of the building and across the street. Please enter the building using the east side doors (near the entrance to the St. Denis Centre, instead of main doors on College), then walk directly up the stairs to the second floor.

The baseline assessments are typically scheduled for 1.5 hrs and include a 30-minute education component relevant for parents and athletes. While athletes are free to carpool to the session if a parent is unavailable, it is recommended that parents attend in order to benefit from the concussion education presentation. There are several components to the baseline assessment that the players will do.

These include:

1. Endorsing a consent to participate in the assessment and give permission to the SRCC to use their anonymized data for research;

2. Providing relevant information about themselves (e.g., name, age, and relevant health information, such as previous concussions, learning problems, or other diagnosed conditions);

3. Completing the ImPACT Symptoms Scale, also known as the Post-Concussion Symptoms Scale or PCSS, which is a questionnaire that gathers information on the extent to which at baseline they experience symptoms that are associated with concussion, such as headache and fatigue. If a player is injured, we are then able to compare post-injury symptom endorsement with baseline endorsement;

4. Completing the ImPACT computerized test (Immediate Post Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing);

5. Completing computerized balance testing individually in another room in the Human Kinetics building.

Additionally, there will be some components for the parents to do. Prior to your child's scheduled session, you will receive a link to a survey about your child. This link will most likely be embedded in the initial information sent out once baselines are scheduled. This survey contains demographic questions about your child as well as questions about their previous experience with concussion. It is necessary that you complete this survey at least 24 hours prior to your scheduled session as your responses will be used in programming the session.  Subsequent to this, you will receive a link to a second, more detailed survey about your child's social and emotional adjustment. This will help is to better understand your child's level of mental health risk in the event they sustain a concussion. These survey responses are completely confidential and will not be shared with your child's athletic association in any way; they are simply used to help us better respond to your child's needs in the event of a concussion. 

Frequently Asked Questions