Child Development Network

Our Doctors have all trained in medicine, specialised as Paediatricians, and undertaken further training in Community Paediatrics and Neurodevelopmental Disorders

What we can offer

Medical Cause

At the very core, almost all true developmental disorders are caused by medical problems - usually neurological differences in children's brains.

A medical assessment should be able to help you understand what is wrong from a physical, or medical perspective. From that understanding you should be able answer questions like

• Is it just immaturity?
• Will he / she grow out of this problem?
• Will it get worse?

If children have severe problems (such as Intellectual Disability or Cerebral Palsy), we can find a diagnosable medical cause in about half the cases. For the less severe problems (such as ADHD and learning disabilities) it is quite uncommon to find a clear medical cause. Typical medical tests may include genetic and other blood tests, EEG and brain scans. The more common medical causes include genetic problems, chemical problems, epilepsy and the more common diseases that affect the brain.

Even if we don't find a clear medical cause, we can usually make an accurate guess as to why children have these problems. It is particularly important to talk about possible causes (such as a difficult birth, or a head injury) in order to know whether these may have caused your child's problems.

Organising Developmental Assessments

In addition to medial tests to identify medical causes, the doctor can help by organising tests that clarify and diagnose the developmental problems. These are usually done by other health or educational professionals.

An important part of this process is to clarify the questions that any assessment should answer. For example, if a child is having problems with learning, the overall goal is to find out why. Specific questions to answer may be :

• Does the child have a specific learning disability?
• Does the child have an intellectual problem?
• Is there another reason (such as ADHD or anxiety)?
• How severe is the problem?
• How is it going to affect the child now and in the future? What will they have trouble with?
• Will he / she grow out of it?
• Are they going to be able to cope in a normal classroom, with the normal curriculum?

Your doctor should be able to organise assessments so that all these (and any other) important questions can be answered as accurately as possible.

Explanation

An important role for the doctor is to put all the assessment information together so that it all 'fits', and you can understand it. Part of this is to be able to see what is important, and what is not so important.

At the end of an assessment program, you should be able to say 'I understand what is wrong, why, how severe it is, how it will impact on my child, and what is going to happen in the future'.

Medical Treatments

Sometimes children with poor attention or emotional self control may benefit from medications. These can only be prescribed by medical doctors.

In some cases there are diseases (such as epilepsy) that cause developmental problems, which can be treated with medications or occasionally surgical intervention.

Advocacy

Advocacy is a powerful and important part of what doctors can offer. The doctor's professional status can help you get the understanding and services that may be hard for you to access alone. This may include services at Schools, Department of Families and Community Services, Public Health facilities, Social Security benefits and many others. A phone call, face to face visit or letter from the doctor can make a significant difference in getting your child the help he/she needs.

Planning Treatment

Even if the doctor is not providing treatment, they can help you understand and plan the best way to help your child. At the Child Development Network, we use treatment Goals.

A treatment goal is a statement of what you want to achieve, and by when. For example, for an anxious child, the goal may be that by the end of the year, that child's anxiety has fallen to the extent that it is not a problem any more in their life.

Once you have set the goal, it is then easier to discuss the strategies, or ways that you can achieve those goals.

We set goals in two time frames: Short-Term and Long-Term.

• Short-Term goals are the things that are most important NOW - what you want to achieve over the next 6 months or so.
• Long-Term goals are what you want to achieve as parents for your child by the time they grow up and leave home. For developmental disorders it is important to think about these from the very outset.

Continuing Support

A developmental disorder is a chronic condition - it continues to affect children as they grow and develop. For this reason it is helpful to have a structure of regular support so that as well as short term treatment plans, you can plan for the long term future. At these regular visits you can discuss prevention and making things even better, as well as specific problems that come up.

Specific Services

The initial assessment

We usually organise two visits for the initial assessment. The first visit (one hour) entails

• clarifying what your concerns are
• gathering all the information
• medical exam of the child
• developmental assessment of the child if needed - this is often just informal observation
• putting it all together

The second visit (again usually for one hour) focuses on answering the diagnostic (what is wrong) questions, organising further assessment if necessary, and planning the treatment and management process.

Continuing, follow-up visits

At the follow-up visits the discussions usually include

• Prescribing and monitoring medication if this is needed
• Planning and reviewing treatment goals
• Monitoring the child's developmental / behavioural / mental health progress

Fees

Medical services are subsidised by Medicare, so you get much of your money back from medicare. Each doctor has their own fee structure. Please contact the CDN to find out more.