As I have taken on more students who have studied music previously, I have been finding that my tendency is to assume that they know more than they do. It is possible to be able to play songs well, yet not understand anything about how music works. If you have a good ear and a teacher who teaches you songs, you may be completely dependent on your teacher to be able to play anything. I don't want that for my students. I want them to be able to pick up a piece of music and be able to understand all the terms and symbols on the page so they can figure it out on their own.
So, I have started to err on the side of assuming that they don't know. Maybe they learned it before and forgot it. Maybe their former teacher didn't teach them these things. Or maybe they do know it, but they are going to hear it again. A little review never hurt anyone. When I ask students if they learned about a certain topic, a lot of times they say they don't know or they did and don't remember. So I'll explain it. And I tell them that I feel like it's more fair to explain it and they hear it again if they already know it than to expect them to use knowledge or a skill that they don't have. They generally agree with that. Lessons are going much better when I can fill in their knowledge gaps. They are empowered and I can see improvement in the confidence and their skills.
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