Diagnosis

If you feel your child may have special needs probably the first point of contact with a health professional will be your GP or Health Visitor. You will most probably be referred to a Child Development Unit. The child will then be assessed at the centre by a team of specialists which will include a Consultant Paediatrician, a Paediatric Speech & Language Therapist, a Paediatric Physiotherapist an Occupational Therapist and a Clinical Psychologist. Someone from the local education authority and/or a Social Worker may also be there. There will be a number of things assessed such as eyesight, hearing, communication skills, emotional development and mobility, and the child's general health. At this point parental concerns will hopefully be addressed. A way forward regarding therapies or treatments should be jointly discussed by parents and staff and agreed upon. It may be the case sometimes that the child will need to be referred on to other specialists for further assessment before any further therapies or treatment can be prescribed.

Sometimes a diagnosis of a child with a disability is relatively straight forward. However, in other cases it is extremely hard to diagnose a disability. The diagnosis may take months or even years to determine. This makes it incredibly hard sometimes to cope with the situation, especially if you cannot tell friends and family what your child is suffering from. Many Parent Carers worldwide, experience this, There are a number of websites around the world which are on line to help parent carers who have a diagnosis for their child and those who have not.

Try these web sites