Our team of clinicians
Our skilled Child Development Service clinicians support children with delay in one or more areas including physical (fine and gross motor), communication, social/emotional and cognitive (thinking) skills.
Your child may be supported by one or more of our clinicians depending on their age and specific needs.
Our clinicians specialise in targeted developmental areas however they share their skills, knowledge and ideas with each other. Plans are made to address each child’s unique needs, which might involve input from several professionals where relevant.
Your child and family may also be supported by other team members, including our Aboriginal health liaison officers, care navigators and allied health assistants.
To find out more about what our clinicians do, see the information below.
Our audiologists provide comprehensive hearing assessments for children of all ages.
If you have concerns about your child’s hearing, we encourage you to speak with your child health nurse, school health nurse or general practitioner (GP). They can offer advice and assist with a referral to audiology if needed.
As required, our audiologists will provide families with strategies and supports for children with identified hearing issues.
We do NOT provide:
- direct referrals to Ear, Nose, Throat (ENT) specialists or other medical practitioners
- Central Auditory Processing Disorder assessment.
Resources
Preparing for your audiology appointment (video)
Middle ear infection: babies, kids & teens | Raising Children Network
Our clinical psychologists work with children with developmental delay or difficulties and emotional, psychological and/or behavioural issues.
Our clinical psychologists can help with things like:
- strengthening your relationship with your child
- supporting your child to manage their emotions
- understanding your child’s behaviour and responding to your child.
We do NOT provide services for:
- school-based learning difficulties or other difficulties that are occurring only at school and/or referral for cognitive assessment only (speak with staff at your child’s school if you have concerns in these areas)
- children in the care of the CEO of the Department of Communities with social and/or emotional concerns directly associated with placement or transition between placements.
Resources
Understanding emotions: children and teens | Raising Children Network
Headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation
Our paediatricians are doctors who are specially trained to understand and support children’s development, health, and wellbeing.
Paediatricians understand how a child’s body, brain, home life, school, and environment all work together to affect how they grow and learn.
Our paediatricians:
- assess and diagnose children who have challenges with:
- attention and concentration (like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD))
- developmental delay in multiple developmental areas
- social and communication differences (like autism)
- behavioural and emotional challenges
- prescribe and manage medications (such as for ADHD), and follow-up regularly
- work together with your GP in a shared care arrangement when appropriate
- provide support and advice to help families understand their child’s needs and connect with resources and supports (e.g. NDIS)
- advocate for your child at school and support access to Centrelink resources.
We do NOT provide services for the following concerns unless they are linked to developmental difficulties.
Please talk to your GP about:
- mental health concerns only (like anxiety or depression without developmental issues)
- a possible diagnosis related to joint hypermobility. They can assess symptoms and refer you to appropriate services or specialists for a diagnosis if needed
- tiredness, sleep problems, or Ear, Nose, Throat (ENT) issues
- learning difficulties without attention or developmental concerns
- growth concerns (height, weight, head size) without other developmental concerns.
Resources
Visit our neurodiversity page to learn more about how we support children who think and learn differently.
Our clinical nurses have an advanced understanding of children’s development, health, and wellbeing.
Our nursing team provide:
- information and guidance about child health and development; appropriate referral pathways and other relevant services and resources available to parents, GPs, schools, health providers, private clinicians and other referrers
- clinical review and allocation of referrals to the relevant discipline in line with the primary concern of the parent/carer
- assessment and management of the child’s developmental delay and/or difficulties in collaboration with the paediatrician
- coordination and communication with other health service providers and professional agencies involved in a child’s care.
We do NOT provide:
- primary child health services that are offered through community health nurses (i.e. Purple Book appointments).
Resources
Our occupational therapists can help you support your child to develop the skills to become more independent and join in with others in their everyday life.
Our occupational therapists can provide help with:
- play: helping children to join in and learn through different kinds of play
- self-care: developing everyday skills like dressing, brushing teeth and getting organised
- hand skills: developing finger and hand coordination for tasks like drawing, handwriting and cutting
- participation: understanding how to support your child's sensory responses in daily routines.
We do NOT provide services for:
- sensory presentations (e.g. dislike of loud noises or certain textures) that do not have a significant impact on a child’s functioning in everyday life
- fine motor skills (e.g. pencil grasp and cutting) where the child has not had the opportunity to practise
- the following specific pencil grasp and/or handwriting concerns:
- an awkward or immature pencil grasp only, with no other impacts (i.e. no pain or impact on handwriting)
- handwriting only concerns for children in Year 2 and above
- handwriting difficulties that are literacy based.
Resources
Play and Early Learning Handouts | DOT (WA)
Our physiotherapists can help you to support your child develop the movement, balance and coordination skills (motor skills) they need for everyday physical activities.
Our physiotherapists help:
- babies with things like moving their bodies to roll over, crawl, explore, play and sit up
- toddlers to climb, stand, walk, run, and jump
- older children to balance, play with balls, hop and play at the playground.
We do NOT provide services for the following concerns.
Please talk to your GP about:
- limping
- clicking noises in joints e.g. hips
- pain anywhere
- scoliosis (spine curvature)
- floppiness, stiffness or sudden changes in your child’s muscle tone.
Our social workers work with families to strengthen their understanding of and ability to support their child’s social and emotional development.
Our social workers can help with things like:
- building strong, healthy relationships between caregivers and children by helping caregivers understand, manage, and support their child’s behaviour and development
- supporting children and caregivers with understanding and expressing feelings and emotions
- strengthening caregivers’ understanding of how to support their child’s emotional regulation when they have difficulty with attention and concentration
- supporting children with daily routines that may be impacted by challenges with attention, concentration, social-emotional development, or caregiver relationships
- connecting families with community services, resources, and supports for additional assistance.
We do NOT provide services for:
- family welfare issues, including housing and financial relief
- caregiver grief or loss that is not associated with their child's developmental delay or diagnosis
- difficulties with sleeping, eating and toileting routines that require medical investigation and management
- children in the care of the CEO of the Department of Communities with social and/or emotional concerns directly associated with the impact of coming into care, placement related concerns or reunification matters.
Resources
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)
Complex Attention and Hyperactivity Disorders Service: Parent workshops | CAMHS
Our speech pathologists can help you understand and support your child’s communication.
Our speech pathologists can help with:
- speech that is difficult to understand
- delayed spoken language
- problems understanding what people say and following instructions
- a stutter.
We do NOT provide services to children with:
- literacy only concerns, e.g. reading and spelling
- concerns in English only, where an additional language is spoken well
- feeding or swallowing difficulties that require medical investigation and management
- voice concerns
- speech and language difficulties directly related to permanent conductive or sensorineural hearing loss
Resources
Language delay in children | Raising Children Network
Your clinician will discuss the services below if relevant to your child’s needs.
Podiatry
We offer limited podiatry services to existing clients.
Our podiatrists provide support for children with foot and leg problems that affect how they move and grow. This includes issues with how the feet work or develop, which can impact walking, running, and overall physical development.
Dietetics
We offer limited dietetic services to existing clients.
Our dietitians provide a consultancy service to our clinicians to support children who continue to have challenges after they have tried common mealtime strategies. They work with our team to help you understand your child’s needs and help improve their nutrition and mealtime experience.
Play and learning
Our play and learning clinicians are professionally trained and experienced in working with young children and families who would benefit from additional support at home to understand their child’s developmental needs. This service includes working closely with families to support a child’s development through physical, sensory, social, pretend and imaginary play.
Team assessment: autism
We have clinicians who are trained autism diagnosticians, including developmental paediatricians, clinical psychologists, and speech pathologists. Children with significant developmental concerns across multiple developmental areas may be offered an autism assessment.
Visit our autism page for more information.