Complete Care For Your Children
Patient Information
To see a paediatrician, you’ll need a referral from your GP. Your GP is always a good place to start if you’re worried about your child’s health or development. Your GP can help you decide about seeing a paediatrician and help you find someone who’s right for your child.
Before going to a Paediatrician
If your GP refers your child to a paediatrician, it’s a good idea to talk with your GP about the following things:
Talk with your GP about why your child needs a referral to a paediatrician?
How long before you can get an appointment to see the paediatrician?
Anything you can do while you’re waiting to see the paediatrician? eg. Seeing Speech Therapist,…
Making an appointment – Always put your name on the waiting list.
How much will the appointment with the paediatrician cost? Any medicare rebate.
You could also ask about these things when you make the appointment with the Kids Clinic. It’s a good idea to write down your questions, so you don’t forget.
Development, Behaviour & Cognitive Assessment
We see children from birth through the college years who have concerns with their neuro-development and behaviour.
The range of conditions that warrant such an evaluation include:
- developmental delay including speech and language delay
- personal-social communication deficits
- learning difficulties
- intellectual disabilities
- attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)
- autism
- mood disorder including anxiety and depression
Kids Clinic Approach for Assessment.
Assessing a child with possible development, learning or behavioural problems, Kids Clinic paediatricians usually start with gaining history, observation of the child and physical examination. Using targeted standardised screening questionnaires that provide a quick snapshot of a child’s health and developmental status; it may indicate whether further evaluation is needed to identify potential difficulties that might necessitate interventions or special education services.
At Kids Clinic, we are excited to use CHADIS portal – screening and diagnostic questionnaires, recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The CHADIS questionnaires may be completed by parents and/or caregivers, but in our setting it is recommended to be completed with the help of one of our therapists. At Kids Clinic, this may happen soon after initial consultation with our paediatrician.
Parents need to understand that assessment is a continual process of observing, gathering, recording, and interpreting information to answer questions and make developmental and instructional decisions about children.
This assessment can be used to to help early childhood professionals plan to meet the individual needs of children.
About Kids Clinic
Kids Clinic is a Paediatric Clinic and Early Intervention providers (NDIS) for children with developmental, behavioural and functional skills impairment.