“I was going along quite well with my client. I figured out what targets to deal with and was in the middle of the baseline period, when the client tells me that the problem has changed. Do I have to...

“I was going along quite well with my client. I figured out what targets to deal with and was in the middle of the baseline period, when the client tells me that the problem has changed. Do I have to start all over again? What do I do with the old problem?” Response to Case 6 Yes, you do have to start all over with a genuine new problem—if you are certain that it is new and not simply a variation on the original problem. Don’t be surprised that problems change; that is just part of life when one is under varied stresses. But we do have to be sensitive to genuine changes in problems. What do you do with the old target and all that work you went through to gather baseline data? First, don’t throw away any data. The original problem may return, and you have some solid baseline data ready to go. Second, if the original problem is important enough in its own right, then continue monitoring it as if you were closing out a target upon completion of your work with that part of the client’s problems. You also have the choice of monitoring and intervening with both problems at the same time. Also, sometimes baselining reveals that no real problem exists on one of the targets—and that in itself is vital information. The same is true with problems that change in the middle of the baseline. It is important to document that some important developments took place. You might check to see how and why the problem happened to disappear before your contributions were needed. Does the client have some resources and skills that can be put to work with other problems?