Doncaster: General Development Assessment information

On this page you will see information on Doncaster neurodevelopment assessments for young people including referrals, pathway details, who is involved and how long the process will take. 

How can I get a referral?

Schools support children with additional needs through an ‘assess, plan, do and review’ graduated response which means that early years services and schools will lead on the request for assessment, not GPs. 

This is because they will have more information about children, information that clinicians need to be able to make a good assessment. Early years services and schools will be supported by health visitors. 

You will need to contact the school's early years service /staff and they will assess needs and will try to optimise help and support set up a review process in which a child's health information is gathered at school.  Should the concerns continue and a neurodevelopmental assessment is felt appropriate, the school team will make a referral to community paediatricians.

What if my child isn't in an early year setting?

If your child is not in an early years setting then your health visitor will lead on submitting a request for assessment. If your child is being educated at home then the school nurse will lead on the request.

Who is involved? 

• GPs: if the child is under the age of 2
• Health visitors: pre-school children
• School team: if the child is of school age
• School nurse: if the child is of school age but is educated at home

What is the process for referral? 

At school the 'assess, plan, do and review' process will take place which includes the following steps:

1. Identified need: What is the identified need of the child and why would a general developmental assessment help?

2. Service leads on assess, plan, do and review process: Engaging with family/carers and other professionals involved

3. Service to complete two cycles of support plans over at least one school term

4. Service to contact health visitors or school nurse for the required health information: If child is not placed in a Service (under 5 years), Health Visitor may complete the referral

5. Service to send all information together as a request

General Development Assessment

After the school completes the above process, the child will be referred to the community paediatrician who will complete the General Development Assessment. 

Inappropriate or incomplete referrals or those lacking evidence of pre-referral support and intervention, may be declined. 

After completing the GDA, the paediatrician will decide which steps the child should take next.

ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) Pathway

• If the community paediatrician doing General Developmental Assessment suspects ADHD, they will make a referral to Doncaster CAMHS
• The referral will be triaged by the ADHD assessment team and outcome of the triage will be communicated to parents, GP, School and the referring paediatrician
• If the child is accepted for ADHD assessment, he / she will go on waiting list and family will be offered appointment in due course of time
• If the child is diagnosed with ADHD, she/he will be either be seen child psychiatrist or ADHD post-diagnosis service who will liaise with schools. They will have a regular review, generally every 6 months
• If the child need to continue ADHD medication into their adulthood, they will be transitioned to Adult ADHD service at the age of 18
• In addition to medication, the child with ADHD will need to access help and support through school and community based services

Autism Pathway

• Should the community paediatrician doing GDA suspect Autism, he / she will refer to multidisciplinary autism assessment team.
• The referral will be triaged by the autism assessment team and outcome of the triage will be communicated to parents, GP, School and the referring paediatrician.
• If the child is accepted for Autism assessment, he / she will go on waiting list and family will be offered appointment in due course of time.
• If the child is diagnosed with Autism, family and school will receive feedback and detailed report containing information on help and support. The child will be discharged. 
• The target is to complete this pathway within 14 weeks. For more information on Autism assessments click here.