What to expect once a referral has been made
We receive a high number of referrals for neurodevelopmental assessments and the numbers continue to grow. This unfortunately leads to extremely long waiting times which we are working hard to address.
Your child will initially be referred to a Community Paediatrician for a consultation – the average waiting time is up to two years.
Following the Paediatrician’s review, they may decide a CDC assessment is required and refer – the average waiting time is up to one year.
The initial clinic appointment with the Community Paediatrician (Usually held in Children's outpatients, Area K) would take approximately an hour and is where the Community Paediatrician will ask you questions about medical history, family information, your child’s developmental milestones, educational information, and discuss any medical investigations and next steps. If the Community Paediatrician feels your child needs an assessment of their developmental needs, a referral to the CDC will be made. Parents will be made aware of the reason for referral and the need to contact other agencies to gain information to contribute the assessment.
If your child meets the criteria for a CDC assessment, a referral acknowledgement letter will be sent to you, along information about the process.
The CDC team undertake multi-disciplinary developmental assessments for pre-school children. The assessment will identify any areas of difficulty and following the assessment, appropriate referrals for support from other agencies will be made. While a reason (diagnosis) for your child’s difficulties may be agreed upon, this is not always the case, however the absence of a diagnosis will not prevent the appropriate referrals being made.
The assessment is made up of three parts (shown below). A letter will be sent to parents detailing the CDC appointments, along with a questionnaire – which will need to be given to the child’s Nursery or School for them to complete and return prior to the assessment.
1. Pre-Assessment:
This assessment is for us to gain insight about your child’s home life and any other relevant information. The appointment will be face to face at the CDC along with an Orthoptic review, unless your child is already under the Orthoptic team then this would be a telephone call. The information gathered during this appointment will be added to your child’s CDC report to help inform the assessment.
Within the CDC report parents are asked for their views (worries, concerns, improvements), therefore you may find it useful to take time to write these down prior to the assessment, which you can bring on the day of the appointment or email on ngh-tr.cdc.ngh@nhs.net.
During either the pre-assessment or CDC assessment your child will be weighed and measured.
Parking charges will apply – please see link for Directions and Parking.
2. Assessment:
The following week, your child will be seen by the CDC team. Through play we will be assessing your child’s interaction, speech and language, their level of play, early learning skills and may assess their movement skills. Other information from Nursery, professionals supporting your child and parental views will be also taken into account when concluding the assessment.
Your child will be assessed over the morning, however sometimes this can be longer. Therefore, you are welcome to bring food and drink with you, however hot drinks are not allowed due to scalding risk.
An Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) assessment may need to be undertaken as part of the CDC assessment. This will be discussed and explained with you before.
Parking during this assessment will be free of charge - you will be asked to complete a form with your car details in order to validate this at the CDC reception on the day.
3.Feedback:
You will then be given feedback by your Community Paediatrician either on the same day as the assessment, or will be offered a later date via a telephone call or face-to-face meeting. The Community Paediatrician will discuss any findings and recommendations and there will be plenty of time for any questions. If the feedback is at a later date, your child does not need to be present. A copy of the report will be sent to you within three weeks of the feedback.
Your child’s assessment is individual. The team has specialist skills in specific areas of child development.
The team includes:
- Reception/Administration Team:
This team will be your first contact with the department. They will take your details to update our system, along with your car details to validate parking.
Your child will be allocated a Neurodevelopmental Practitioner/Play Assistant for their assessment. They focus on the child’s play, early learning skills and daily activities. The Practitioner will also act as a link between your Health Visitor and/ or other services involved in your child’s care and their Nursery/School.
They will discuss your child’s difficulties with you and any concerns that you may have about your child. He/she will examine your child and arrange any necessary investigations. If it is appropriate your child may not be seen by the Community Paediatrician during their assessment.
- Speech and Language Therapist (SLT):
They assess your child’s understanding of spoken language, expressive language, social interaction and communication skills. If your child has recently been seen by their Community SLT, it may not be necessary for them to be seen by a therapist during their CDC assessment.
Their focus is to look at your child’s posture, movement, balance, co-ordination, how the muscles and joints are working, and whether your child’s needs any follow-on treatment, corrective footwear or specialist equipment. If the child is not seen by this team at their CDC assessment, a referral will be made if necessary.
This team provides full hearing testing for your child and are based in the Children’s Hearing Clinic. An appointment will be made for a different date to the CDC assessment, if one is required.
This team check children’s vision and are based at the Orthoptic department. If these checks reveal a problem, then a referral will be made to one of the Consultant Ophthalmologists.
Students or junior doctors may be on placement in the CDC during your visit. Your named Practitioner will discuss if you are happy for such staff to observe your child’s assessment.