Assessment

In working with families to achieve their child's potential, our first priority is to ensure that parents are at ease and are fully informed and involved in the process of assessment and evaluation. After all it is parents who are on the 'front line' in the fight against their child's developmental difficulties and it will be parents and other family members / friends who will carry out the agreed programme of developmental activities in their own homes.

As many parents will testify, children rarely behave naturally in a strange environment.  With this in mind, in addition to our own observations and testing,  we also rely on parents to furnish us with information concerning their children's normal behaviour at home.  In this way, it is possible to gain the most accurate appraisal of the difficulties they face in developmental terms.

You can expect the assessment of your child to follow the following timetable.

(1). Once you have been offered an appointment, you will be sent a 'general information form' to complete and return to us.

(2). You will then attend an appointment for a consultation in Devon.

(3). At the consultation, you will have the opportunity to discuss any issues concerning your child's development with us. 

(4). We will then give you our thoughts on the problems faced by your child and our ideas concerning how his / her problems should be addressed.  You will have the opportunity to ask questions of us at any time, before, during and after your meeting with us.

(5). The practicalities of implementing a programme are then explored. - Such issues as how much time the family can commit; - whether there are any other constraints on implementing the programme.

(6). Parents do not receive a programme on the day of our appointment.  We do not believe that designing  a programme should be a 'reflex' action.  Over the next few days we will carefully consider all the information you have provided and collate this with what we have seen of your child during the consultation.  When this consideration is complete, we will write your child's programme of developmental activities.

(7). Once you have received your programme (or distance programme), which will contain detailed instructions of how to carry out the developmental exercises we have prescribed, we will be in close contact to ensure that you feel confident in carrying out the activities.

(8). We then remain in frequent contact to monitor progress and help guide you through difficulties which may arise.  You are also free to contact us by telephone or email for advice and support any time you feel it necessary.

Subsequently, families are asked to bring their child to Devon for reassessment every five months, so that the appropriate amendments to their child's programme can be made, to account for any developmental gains.

We also accept that the nature and severity of disability of some children unfortunately means they cannot travel to see us.  In these circumstances we can provide ' distance advice.  This works by Snowdrop consulting with the parents and relevant medical professionals who treat the child and after they have provided answers to my questions and filled in a developmental questionnaire, I then provide advice designed to stimulate the child's development.

What is the cost of Assessment?

We are always striving to keep our costs as low as possible,  so that we can pass this advantage on to you which means that you pay a consistently low price for developmental advice from people who are appropriately qualified and who have 22 years of experience.  You can also be sure that this advice is not based upon some half-baked psycho / neurological theory, but on solid evidence.

An initial assessment will cost £375  with follow up assessments every five to six months costing £300.  These costs also apply to the distance programme.

 

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