Child Development Team (Leeds West/North West) Website
What we do
If your child has been called for an assessment at the Child Development Centre, you might be wondering what is going to happen to your child. There’s no need to worry, the assessment is designed to see exactly what your child can and can not do and how far along they are in their development, and does not involve any intrusive tests which will hurt your child. There are two types of assessment which we do here at Belmont House… |
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Team Assessment
The Team assessment at Belmont House is preceded by a home visit about 1-2 weeks before the Team assessment, by one or more of the team members. The home visit helps us explain to the parents what the assessment involves, to see how the child interacts with their home environment and to get consent for the video recording of the child at Belmont House.
When you come for the assessment, we ask that you arrive punctually and if appropriate, bring with you your child’s favourite toy, a drink, their dummy and nappies. The Team will have discussed your child before you arrive and so will be ready for you all.
You can spend the whole assessment in the same room as your child and one of the members of our team will sit with you and clarify what it is going on and why.
During the assessment we try and keep the experience as child-friendly as possible and not overwhelm you or the child. The majority of the team will come and play with your child at some point, usually in pairs, but the whole team will be watching in another room through a one way mirror and video-link up.
There is time for a coffee and biscuits break in the middle of the morning, which enables you to spend some time alone with your child and for us to have a discussion about how the assessment is going and establish a plan of action for helping your child.
After the coffee break, we will talk to you and draw conclusions on the morning. We will discuss how far developed your child is in each area, and what we can do about any developmental problems. This is also a very important and constructive opportunity to ask any questions you may have.
About two weeks after the assessment one of the team will go to see you in your house. They will discuss the assessment and the report and answer any questions you may have. They will also give relevant information about potential services. Following the visit, any alterations needed to the report will be made and the final report will be sent out to you and all relevant parties.
Communication Assessment
This assessment is for children who may be having difficulties interacting and communicating with those around them. This includes children who have difficulties speaking, listening, understanding language, those who have delay in play/learning and those with behavioural problems.
The communication assessment is similar to the Team assessment in that two members of the team will come to your house about two weeks before the Belmont House assessment (see above for details of home visit).
In addition, one member of the team will pay a visit to your child’s nursery or playgroup to see how the child interacts with other children and to assess them in an educational setting.
The assessment at Belmont House lasts between two and three hours and is of a similar arrangement to the above assessment. The main team players will be the clinical psychologist and speech and language therapist, who will watch your child play but may assess your child more formally, should it be appropriate.
About an hour into the assessment, we switch off the video-link and close the mirror to allow you some private time with your child. We discuss how the assessment went and then after you’ve had a drink and break we will discuss together the assessment. We will reach conclusions about your child’s language and speech abilities, their interaction and their learning abilities. There is also time for questions and to plan the future participation with your child.
About two weeks after the assessment one of the team will go to see you in your house. They will discuss the assessment and the report and answer any questions you may have. They will also give relevant information about potential services. Following the visit, any alterations needed to the report will be made and the final report will be sent out to you and all relevant parties.
If we feel that your child needs to be referred to another agency, we will ask your permission before doing so.
If you have any further questions about what goes on in an assessment, please feel free to contact us.
What else we do
The assessments only account for a small proportion of what we do here at the Child Development Centre. Throughout the week we have various clinics with the paediatricians. These are for either the children who have already had their assessment and who we are following up, or for children who we aren’t sure if they need an assessment so we will decide when we see them at clinic. The clinics are a valuable opportunity for us to see how the children are getting on and to highlight any problems, as well as for the parents to ask any questions or bring up any issues about their childs development.
A lot of the work for the physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and the Specialist Health Visitor is actually outside the Child Development Centre. Home and nursery visits are a vital part of the job description as it allows us to see the child interacting with their own environment and other children. These visits can be follow up visits once we have assessed the child, a prelude to the assessment, or if we decide a child doesn’t need an assessment but needs surveillance. The assessments are generally for children who have complex problems so we may decide not to formally assess your child as a team, but to keep an eye on them, or to only have one of the therapists see them in clinic.
We meet once a week on a friday as a team to discuss the children we have seen on visits and to update each other on their progress. We will also discuss the child we have seen for the team assessment and establish a plan of action for them.
Moving On
Once your child becomes of a school age, their needs will be best maintained at school and so this is the point where we say goodbye and pass over the child to the Community Paediatric Services. The Child Development Team is only a pre-school service. From an early age we discuss this with parents to make the transfer easier and we also offer joint sessions with their new therapists prior to them commencing full time school - this can happen from when the child is 4 dependent on the month of their birth.
When this transition is made, instead of seeing the therapists here (i.e. the physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists) at the Centre, the community or school therapists will take over. Each therapist will send all of your child’s information and records over to their respective community/school therapist, so don’t worry that you will have to start at the beginning all over again. They will then see your child at their school. There may be a slight delay in the changeover, in which case your child will be put on a waiting list.
The Community Paediatric Services are made up of:
The Head Occupational Therapist for the Community Paediatric Services. This is based at St Mary’s Hospital. This is the person who will allocate an occupational therapist for your child in school.
The Superintendent Physiotherapist for the Community Paediatric Services. This is based at Chapeltown Health Centre. He/she will then assign a physiotherapist or orthotist to your child in school.
Each school or nursery will usually have their own speech and language therapist, whom your child will then be assigned to. They work in close contact with your child’s teacher to help devise a special program to suit your child’s needs.
With regards to seeing your paediatrician, your child will remain under that same paediatrician at Belmont House until they reach 16 years of age. If there is a school doctor, and if your paediatrician feels is appropriate, your child may be reassigned to the school doctor.
If your child has ongoing difficulties with regards to seeing the clinical psychologist, then they will be seen here at the centre. However, once your child is past the school age (i.e. over 5 years of age) and they develop a new problem, they will instead be referred to the Child and Adolescent Mental Team (CAMHS) for that area.
The specialist health visitor and the social worker will continue seeing your child as and when needed.
For more information about the transition period, feel free to ask us any questions here at the centre. We’re more than happy to answer your queries!