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Developmental delay

A developmental delay is when a child is not developing physically, mentally or emotionally at the expected ages. Our psychologists are specialised and experienced in child development meaning we provide exceptional and comprehensive assessments and interventions. Being experts in child development and psychology allows us to identify subtle behaviours to provide a reliable and accurate assessment.

What is a developmental delay?

A developmental delay may be noticed when a child is not reaching ‘developmental milestones’ when they are expected to and they are taking a significant amount of time longer to reach the milestones.

A developmental delay can occur in an isolated area, multiple or all five areas. The five key developmental areas are:

Developmental delays do not have one specific cause, they may be caused by birth complications, environmental issues or medical conditions. Developmental delays may be an indicator of future difficulties. Being aware of developmental milestones and expected ages will help to identify developmental delays at the earliest possible point and allow focused interventions. Health visitors or early years settings may be the first to suspect a possible developmental delay.

Our process

At HSR Psychology we ensure that we meet the needs of children and young people. To achieve this we ensure that any specific assessments, intervention, or direct work, is only carried out following an initial discussion.

An initial discussion allows us to understand the background and your expectations of our involvement. Having an initial discussion ensures any services we provide appropriately identify or address needs.

Our process for any specific assessments, intervention, or direct work is as follows:

Step 1: Contact us

We will usually be contacted by the child or young person, parent or carer, or another professional (eg education or health).

You can contact us or complete a referral



Step 2: Arrange an initial discussion

An initial discussion allows us to understand the background and your expectations of our involvement. Arrange an initial discussion



Step 3: Review our recommendations

Following an initial discussion we will send you an email that includes:

  • Next steps recommendations - to provide a bespoke package of support. For example:
    • Assessments
    • Reports
    • Information gathering
    • Meeting
    • Interventions
    • Consultancy
    • Reviews
  • Costing - we will provide costings for any services recommended.


Step 4: Let's get started

On receipt of the next steps recommendations and costing you can decide how to proceed. Once you have decided contact us to arrange the chosen services.



How is a developmental delay assessed?

A developmental delay is assessed by observing and interacting with the child and speaking with parents or carers to gain a holistic understanding of any difficulties. A developmental delay can usually be assessed up until 3 years and 6 months. If the child or young person is older then we would advise reading about the learning difficulties services we offer. During the assessment process our educational and child psychologists will be looking for areas of strength in addition to areas of developmental delay. A full assessment of developmental delays would include using the Bayley assessment.

Bayley-III

The Bayley is a play-based assessment which allows the assessment of the five main developmental areas, this assessment is suitable for babies from 1 month to 42 months.

What happens after an assessment?

The assessment may find that your child does not have a developmental delay, however your child may benefit from focussed interventions or strategies to strengthen targeted developmental areas. Following the assessment, the outcome and possibility of further intervention can be discussed.

This assessment is not intended to diagnose a developmental delay. The outcome of the assessment will lead to recommendations for interventions or adaptations to further the individual’s development and will be summarised in a report.

What interventions do we support?

Our psychologists provide bespoke interventions targeted for identified areas of developmental delay and support the following:

To talk to a member of our team in relation to specific interventions please contact us.

A developmental delay can occur for a number of reasons and can be supported through focussed early interventions. Assessments include standardised assessments, observations and questionnaires. If you feel as though your child may have a developmental delay, please contact us to arrange an initial discussion or to discuss your needs.


Arrange an Initial Discussion

Arrange an Initial Discussion to find out how we can help. The initial discussion lasts 1-1.5 hours, comes with a written recommendation summary and is a starting point to identify needs. The cost is £260.

  • No waiting lists
  • Experienced psychologists
  • Includes recommendation summary

Find out more

only

£260



What makes us different

Access to a named psychologist

Focus on mental health and wellbeing

Joined-up approach

Bespoke services to meet needs

Multidisciplinary team

Holistic approach

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Flexible, consistent, and competitively priced

We provide bespoke solutions to suit all budgets and requirements for children and young people aged 0-25 in homes, education settings and the community. Our clinical, educational and child psychology services are cost effective.

See our prices

Make a referral

To make a referral and arrange an initial discussion please complete our referral form.

Make a referral

Contact us

Ready to get started? The next step is to speak to our team to find out more about the services we provide and how we can help. Call us on 0161 820 9229 or email office@hsrpsychology.co.uk

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