Child development centres

Child development centres provide multi-disciplinary assessments of children with additional needs who are under five years old. Children attend for assessment, diagnosis, intervention and advice for the following impairments and disabilities:

  • Behavioural problems
  • Communication and interaction problems
  • Delay in their development
  • Impaired vision or hearing
  • Physical disability
  • Severe co-ordination problems

Early developmental assessment 

Children identified in infancy as likely to require additional support in school for health/education needs are referred to the Earlylinks (Shropshire) or First Steps (Telford) pathway by health professionals.

The plan is for children accepted onto this pathway to be offered:

  • Structured parent sessions every six months up to the age of between two years and three months and two years and six months where parents/carers have time to discuss their child’s development and any areas of concern face-face by phone or online. Onward referrals can be made to other agencies as appropriate at these times
  • Blocks of group sessions, run at the child development centre until the age of between two years and three months and two years and six months
  • For those families who can't access the face-face group sessions, regular bi-monthly phone, clinic or home visit contact is made by a nursery nurse and /or health professional
  • At the age of between two years and three months and two years and six months a multidisciplinary assessment where the child’s strengths and weaknesses are identified through assessment by an educational psychologist, specialist nursery nurse and speech and language therapist, supported by the child’s paediatrician. All professionals working with the child, their parent/carer, a representative from the local education authority SEND team, and, if they're attending, their early years setting are invited to attend a meeting (face-face or online) to discuss the findings and plan for future support/needs in their preferred educational placement
  • A multidisciplinary report written by health professionals involved with the child following this meeting, and the parents/carers informed of the next steps for all agencies involved. The child will then move from the Earlylinks pathway onto other health agency pathways as appropriate
Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust have developed two Multi Disciplinary Assessment (MDA) information videos. The first video explains in more detail what the MDA process is including who will see your child, what happens as part of the assessment and what will happen next.
The second video shares information to show you what the building looks like, where to park, how to access the building and different rooms you might visit.

Autism diagnosis

In Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, assessment for possible autism spectrum disorder in younger children has been completed wherever possible as part of a wider developmental assessment in the CDCs based at Monkmoor Campus, Shrewsbury, and Stepping Stones Centre, Telford.

Children with developmental concerns are referred to the Community Paediatric Service by a health professional who has worked with the family and child. The community paediatrician’s role is to see if there's a medical cause for any developmental problems.

The paediatrician meets the child and family to understand the concerns and also gather information about the child from other professionals involved in the child’s care, such as speech and language therapy, health visiting and any early years setting. A developmental screening tool called the Schedule of Growing Skills (SOGS) Assessment is completed by one of our specialist nursery nurses. If the paediatrician’s wider assessment highlights concerns about possible autism and the child was less than five years old when they were referred to the paediatrician, a referral can be made to the Child Development Centre.

The CDC assessment has always aimed to be a holistic assessment of the child’s individual strengths and difficulties. If evidence gathered fulfils criteria for autism, a diagnosis will be given. However, we also work with children who have profiles that don’t include autism.

Our multi-disciplinary assessment (MDA) approach features a series of appointments, and includes both group and 1:1 observations and assessments. The communication and interaction (C and I) pathway, primarily for young children thought to have autism, usually includes an element of trialling different intervention approaches with children and families. The standard MDA pathway provides assessment for children with a range of difficulties, including possible ASD.

If you have any queries please contact the Child Development Centre on either 01743 730012 (Shropshire) or 01952 567300 (Telford).

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