Child Development Service
The Child Development Service team is an Allied Health team based in Christchurch
The Child Development Service team is an Allied Health team based in Christchurch and covers a wide geographical area from Kekerengu (north of Kaikoura) to the Rangitata River (south of Ashburton), inland to the Alps and includes the Chatham Islands.
We see tamariki with disabilities and developmental needs from birth through to their 16th birthday; working in partnership with parents, caregivers and whānau to support their development and participation in life’s activities. Tamariki might receive support from one person in our team or several, depending on their needs.
-
Our team provides assessment and intervention for this group of tamariki which may include:
parent information sessions
therapy support
post-operative therapy
Enable NZ (Whaikaha funding provider) applications for home equipment:
including bathing/showering, walking frames, standing frames, beds/mattresses
wheelchairs/seating and car seats, lying supports
housing modifications
hydrotherapy
orthotics assessment
Link:https://www.cdhb.health.nz/health-services/child-development-service/
-
The Child Development Service team at Te Whatu Ora Waitaha Canterbury includes a range of allied health professionals who work with the tamariki and whānau accessing our service.
Your tamaiti might receive support from one person in our team or several, depending on their needs. This could include support from:
Our Physiotherapists work collaboratively with tamarki and whānau to support motor development and participation in activities and improve quality of life.
Our Occupational Therapists work with tamariki and whānau around the development of day-to-day life skills, fine motor skill development and provide sensory processing education and support.
Our Social Worker supports parents/ whānau / caregivers in meeting their own needs and challenges while caring for a child with developmental needs.
Our Speech Language Therapist works with whānau to assess and support swallowing safety and skill.
Our Dietitian role is to work with whānau to assess and provide interventions to support the nutritional needs of tamariki with enteral feeding needs, restrictive eating, or faltering growth.
Our Kaitautoko engages with Māori whānau referred to the Child Development Service.
Our Psychology team complete assessments for consideration of Autism Spectrum Disorder and/or Intellectual Disability diagnosis.
Our Allied Health Assistants/ Kaiāwhina, support our clinicians in their work with tamariki and whānau. This could include providing support with individual intervention plans for tamariki, providing group or 1:1 parent information session’s, supporting with running clinics, and supporting with the creation or development of resources for tamariki.
Administration Support Staff: Our administration team are often who whānau have first contact with. They support our team with arranging appointments for clinics we run, being a first port of call on our contact number and supporting our team with administration tasks.
Link:https://www.cdhb.health.nz/health-services/child-development-service/
-
Our team members are here to work alongside you and your whānau and to support you with achieving your goals for your tamaiti. We work closely with the professionals who refer to us such as paediatricians, general practitioners (GPs), Plunket and Lifelinks (Needs Assessment Service). We also have strong ties with early childhood education providers, schools, and the Ministry of Education, so we can provide a coordinated service for you and your tamaiti.
Your support from our team is individualised and tailored to meet your current priorities or concerns for your tamaiti. We acknowledge that whānau know their tamariki best and know what will work best for them and see our teams’ role is to help you create a plan which you can use to support your tamaiti in achieving their goals. We work alongside whānau and regularly review goals set to monitor progress.
As our mahi with tamariki is tailored to meeting individual needs, our length of time being involved with tamariki can vary. Generally, once goals are achieved or if the tamaiti is making good progress towards achieving their goals, the episode of support with our team will end and tamariki will need a new request for support to re-enter the service. We welcome re-referrals up until tamariki have their 16th birthday if additional support is required in the future.
We aim to work to our service vision, values and mission statement below, as well as the principles of Enabling Good Lives (www.enablinggoodlives.co.nz for further information)
Link:https://www.cdhb.health.nz/health-services/child-development-service/ .
-
The Child Development Service is funded by Whaikaha, the ministry of disabled people to provide services to tamariki with ongoing developmental or disability needs. As we hold a Child Development Service contract from Whaikaha, our team provides services according to this contract. Referrals to our team are reviewed as we receive them to ensure that we are the right service to provide the support being requested.
Please note, that referrals for our psychology assessment team are only accepted from the paediatric department.
Referrals are accepted from:
Allied Health professionals
Paediatricians or other medical team members
General Practitioners (GPs) – Your GP can view referral criteria on the Community HealthPathways website
Needs Assessment & Service Coordination Service (NASC). In Canterbury this service is called Lifelinks.
Community Health Professionals e.g. Plunket Nurses
Ministry of Education Early Intervention or Special Education teams.
Link:https://www.cdhb.health.nz/health-services/child-development-service/
