Baseline Explained: The Foundation for Focus, Learning & Skill Building

Imagine trying to give a detailed presentation to a room full of colleagues immediately after running a marathon—your heart is racing, you’re out of breath, your muscles are tired, and your mind is scattered.

Focusing and presenting would feel almost impossible until your body has had time to recover and return to its resting state or baseline.

This is part one of our seven-part series, “Getting Back to Baseline.” This series explores how to help children achieve a calm, balanced state—known as baseline—so they can focus, learn, and connect with the world around them.

In this first part, we’ll dive into what baseline really means, why it’s so important, and how emotional, sensory, behavioral, and cognitive regulation all play a role.

What Is “Baseline”

For children, the concept of regulation works in much the same way as the example of presenting after running a marathon.

Before they can focus, learn, communicate effectively, or practice a new skill, they need to be at their baseline—a calm, collected state where their minds and bodies feel balanced and ready.

When children are dysregulated, they may feel overwhelmed, anxious, or overstimulated, making it nearly impossible for them to engage in learning or skill-building. In these moments, their brains are not in a state where they can absorb new information, solve problems, or control their behavior effectively.

This is why achieving baseline regulation isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s a cornerstone of child development.

Yet, for many neurodivergent children, dysregulation is not an occasional experience; it’s a near-constant state. This ongoing challenge impacts every aspect of their functioning, from learning and behavior to their ability to connect socially and emotionally with others.

It also explains why children may perform a skill perfectly one day but struggle with it the next. It’s not that they aren’t capable; it’s that they aren’t regulated.

What Does “Getting Back to Baseline” Mean?

When we talk about “getting back to baseline,” we’re referring to a balanced state where a child’s mind and body feel calm and ready to engage.

This involves four main areas of regulation:

• Emotional Regulation
• Sensory Regulation
• Behavioral Regulation
• Cognitive Regulation

Each of these regulation areas plays a role in helping a child return to baseline. Together, they create a foundation for children to learn, connect, and thrive, even when faced with challenges.

Supporting each of these components helps children build resilience and gives them the tools to handle a wide range of situations in a balanced and healthy way.

So, at its core, getting back to baseline means helping an individual achieve behavioral, emotional, sensory, and cognitive regulation.

Components of Regulation

There are four main components of regulation that are all in balance at baseline.

• Emotional responses are manageable, not overwhelming.
• Sensory input feels balanced, without being overstimulated or under-stimulated.
• Cognitive skills like reasoning and problem-solving are accessible.
• Behavioral reactions are intentional, not impulsive or reactive.

Emotional Regulation: Handling big feelings like anger, sadness, or anxiety.

Emotional regulation is all about managing the wide array of emotions children experience daily, such as anger, sadness, joy, or anxiety. It involves recognizing feelings and finding ways to cope with them in healthy ways.

When children are emotionally regulated, they can feel their emotions without being overwhelmed by them, allowing them to make thoughtful choices. However, if they’re emotionally dysregulated, they may react impulsively to feelings, becoming withdrawn, reactive, or even aggressive.

Teaching emotional regulation skills helps children recognize and process their feelings, allowing them to return to a balanced state more quickly.

Sensory Regulation: Achieving balance after sensory input overload or under stimulation.

Sensory regulation means helping children manage the effects of too much or too little sensory input. Some children are highly sensitive to sights, sounds, textures, or movements, while others might seek out more sensory input to feel balanced.

When a child is overwhelmed by sensory input, they might cover their ears, avoid bright lights, or try to escape noisy spaces. On the other hand, when they’re under-stimulated, they may seek out sensory experiences, like spinning or touching different textures, to feel more “centered.”

Supporting sensory regulation helps children find a comfortable balance and appropriate ways to meet their sensory needs so they aren’t overstimulated or craving more input.

Achieving sensory balance is key to helping them feel calm and ready to learn.

Behavioral Regulation: Managing outward reactions and impulses.

Behavioral regulation is the ability to control physical actions, impulses, and responses to the environment. Behavioral regulation is the result of emotional and sensory regulation.

At school, this involves behaviors like sitting still, following directions, and waiting for a turn. When children have strong behavioral regulation, they can manage their actions even when feeling excited, frustrated, or uncomfortable.

However, if they are dysregulated, whether emotionally or due to sensory input, their impulse control may weaken, leading to actions like fidgeting, shouting, or even meltdowns.

Although behavior is often what parents or educators notice first, it stems from internal (sensory or emotional) dysregulation that the child may not yet have the skills to express or manage.

Addressing the root cause of the dysregulation—whether emotional, sensory, or both—can significantly improve behavioral control.

Instead of focusing solely on correcting outward behaviors, addressing your child’s emotional and sensory needs allows their natural ability to regulate behavior and impulses to return.

Cognitive Regulation: Re-engaging thinking skills like reasoning, planning, and learning.

Cognitive regulation refers to a child’s ability to use thinking skills effectively, especially when problem-solving, planning, or remembering information. Like behavioral regulation, cognitive regulation is also the result of sensory and emotional regulation.

When children are dysregulated — whether emotionally overwhelmed or sensory overloaded — their brain’s “thinking” abilities may go offline, making it hard to reason through situations, follow instructions, or learn new information. This is an autonomic nervous system response; in other words, it’s not something your child can control.

Restoring cognitive regulation requires addressing the sensory and emotional factors causing the dysregulation.

Once a child’s nervous system calms, their cognitive skills naturally re-engage, allowing them to focus, reason, and absorb what they are being taught.

Supporting sensory and emotional regulation first creates the foundation for success in tasks that require focus, problem-solving, and mental flexibility.

Regulation at Baseline

At its core, baseline is when the nervous system is in a regulated state, allowing the brain and body to work together effectively. It’s like the “resting state” of the mind, where everything feels manageable, and a child is ready to take on challenges, connect with others, and learn new skills.

At baseline, all four components of regulation—emotional, sensory, cognitive, and behavioral—are in sync. Your child isn’t overwhelmed by big feelings, sensory input, or their environment, and they can think clearly and act intentionally.

This state is mandatory for focus, memory, learning, and skill-building because these processes depend on a calm and regulated brain.

When a child is dysregulated, their nervous system shifts into a fight, flight, or freeze response, making it nearly impossible to use the “thinking” part of their brain.

Variations in Baseline

Baseline, or regulation, isn’t always the same calm, focused state. It can look different depending on the energy required for the task.

A child may be at baseline when quietly reading during class or while enthusiastically participating in a piñata game at a birthday party. Regulation doesn’t always mean calm—it means their energy and focus match the demands of their environment.

Additionally, individual baselines vary from person to person. For instance, Michael Jordan’s baseline during his iconic game-winning shot involved a heightened state of focus, increased heart rate, and intense concentration—yet he was fully regulated and in control.

 Similarly, a child with ADHD might feel regulated while standing at their desk or doodling in the back of a classroom. Recognizing these differences helps caregivers and educators support children in finding their unique regulation strategies.

Helping children return to baseline is an essential part of supporting their growth and success. When kids are regulated, they can focus, connect, and build the skills they need to thrive.

As caregivers, educators, or therapists, understanding regulation isn’t just about addressing behaviors—it’s about meeting children where they are and giving them what they need to feel secure and capable.

Up Next:

This is just the start of the “Getting Back to Baseline” series.

Ready to learn more? In the next article, we’ll dive into Understanding Dysregulation—what it looks like, why it happens, and how it impacts children’s ability to function. Click here to continue to part two!

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