The Child Development Service is a multidisciplinary team that provide quality care and support for children and young people aged 0-18 who have additional needs. Working in strong partnership with children, their parents/carers and other agencies, we are committed to care and support children with disabilities to enable them to reach their full potential.
Our core values
- Putting the child's needs first.
- Working in partnership with families/ carers, other agencies and the wider community.
- Promoting dignity, respect and integrity in everything we do.
- Aspiring for the best in ourselves and others.
- Celebrating and promoting diversity in our community.
How can I access this service?
You will need to be referred by a health, social care or educational professional that supports you or your child such as your GP, School Nurse, Health Visitor or Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator.
How to give us feedback
Your feedback will help us improve the way we do things and is anonymous unless you choose to give us your contact details. You can either print the questionnaire below or follow this link to an identical online survey. You can also fill out our 
questionnaire [233kb].
For more information about the Child Development Service (CDS) please follow the links below:
Children's Occupational Therapy
- Occupational therapy provides services for children who are experiencing difficulty participating in their daily activities. Self-care: getting dressed, getting ready to leave the house, eating meals, and using cutlery to preparing simple meals and participating in hygiene routines. We also provide support with productivity (participation in nursery, school or any educational/vocational activities): using tools and materials in the classroom, following school routines, attention and concentration, participating in PE lessons, accessing computers/technology and handwriting, etc.
- The Children's Occupational Therapy Team can support children or young people aged 0-18 years as follows:
- Infants and pre-school aged children with developmental concerns who require early assessment and intervention.
- Children and young people with two or more significant functional difficulties impacting on their ability to access the curriculum, their functional independence or their ability to participate in everyday activities.
- Children and young people who require specialist aids, adaptations and equipment for their safety or to support their participation and functional independence.
Physiotherapy
- Paediatric Physiotherapists work with babies, children and young people aged 0-18 in the Bailiwick of Guernsey. The team can offer help with health, sensory and learning difficulties that may impact development. Our direct phone number is 01481 213606.
Positive Behaviour Support
- Our Positive Behaviour Support team helps children and young people with learning disabilities who present behaviours of concern. We try to find out why behaviours of concern are presented and then develop a positive behaviour support plan. The below booklets provide advice and guidance on a variety of common difficulties that parents/children may experience.
- http://www.challengingbehaviour.org.uk /
- http://www.bild.org.uk
- http://pbsacademy.org.uk
Clinical Psychology
- Clinical Psychologists work with children with complex neurodevelopmental difficulties, and their families. Clinical Psychologists also work alongside other professionals, offering highly specialist assessment and support.
- Clinical Psychologists are part of the multi-disciplinary assessment team which look to understand a child's strengths and needs in development. This may sometimes lead to a diagnosis.
- Clinical Psychologists work with parents and/or their children where there are concerns about aspects of a child's behaviour or emotional development. This includes concerns such as mood or anxiety disorders; complex sleep or feeding difficulties; challenging behaviour.
- https://www.zerotothree.org
- http://www.cafamily.org.uk
Speech and Language Therapy
- Children and Young People's Speech and Language Therapy offers support to children who have delayed speech development, difficulty's using speech sounds and difficulty's using language for social interaction. We can also offer help with feeding difficulties, cleft plate and hearing difficulties.
Social Workers
- Social workers with the Child Development Service work with children who have complex disabilities to complete assessments of needs and provide support. We work with children and young people aged from 0 to 18 years old. To complete an assessment we will get to know children and families and speak with other professionals to look at what needs you have. If a child is in need of specialist services, including short breaks we will look at putting together a plan which is kept under regular review..
Child Development Liaison Nurse
- The Child Development Liaison Nurse works with pre-school children who have been referred due to concerns about their development.
- The Liaison Nurse can help by firstly visiting the child and the parent/ carer at their home. Then if necessary explaining what assessment will take place and why. Following the assessments of the child's needs, individual appointments are co-ordinated. Once this has been completed we can provided support to understand the outcome of the assessment. We can also provide advice about what parents and carers can do to support the child's development.
Special Needs School Nurse
- The role of the School Nurse is to support with meeting the health needs of children attending Le Rondin and Le Murier.
- The role includes, conducting health assessments and providing advice on a range of health related issues. We also provide educational sessions to students, parents or professionals.
Paediatricians
- A Paediatrician is a doctor who has specialist training and experience in the health and developmental needs of children. The Paediatrician working as part of the CDS team will assess a child's health and any problems which impact on their development. They will discuss with the young person or parent/carer what further assessments might be required; any referrals to other sources of support, any diagnosis that have been made and what this means for them. They will often arrange to see child again to review their progress.
The Croft
- The Croft provides Short break & respite services for children and young people with learning and physical disabilities, it also provides day care during the school holidays. It also has an Outreach service to provide service to support young people in their family home. The Croft provides a friendly homely atmosphere, and aims to provide normal patterns of living for each child and young person. Everyone will continue to attend school, work experience and leisure placements as appropriate.
- The services provided at the Croft include:
- Planned day care activities
- Regular weekday after school care and weekend care
- Overnight stays
- Outreach Support
- Emergency care
- For further information, please contact the Child Development Service on 01481 213600
