All parents with children need advice and support from time to time. This includes families with children with additional needs or disabilities. Some families will need extra support from services and some need specialist services.
This resource offers support for your parenting journey whatever your experiences may be. It begins with information, advice and support that is available to all parents. This leads on to targeted interventions and specialist support where appropriate.
Developmental milestones
Birth to five is a key time in your child’s physical, emotional and social growth and development. Different children will develop skills at different times. Warwickshire midwives, health visitors and community GPs help and support families through these developmental ages and stages checks.
- Community Midwifery
- Health Visiting
- Find a GP
- Children and Family Centres
- Family Information Service Children and Families
Find the right level of support for you and your child
I need help with
Everyone knows that getting the right support at the right time can make a big difference. In Warwickshire, we want to ensure that resources and services are available early rather than waiting for concerns to build up.
The information, advice and support in this section is often referred to as ‘universal support’ or ‘early help’ as it is freely available to all families. Early help is about helping families deal with any issues as early as possible. It ranges from information, advice and support that families can access themselves through to more individualised or targeted support.
If you have concerns but are not sure where to start, we recommend starting with early help. The practitioners you speak with will be able to make recommendations and referrals on your behalf if more targeted interventions are required.
My child may need extra help with
You may have received early support but find that your child needs more targeted support to make good progress. This may involve enhanced support from your health service, early years setting if your child attends one, your local children and family centre, and the IDS early years team. The services and resources in this section link to more targeted interventions and support.
Specialist support services
Sometimes, you know right from the beginning that you will need more help to support your child’s needs. In this case, you will find the information most relevant to your needs in this section.
Tips to prepare for appointments
Talking about your concerns with the right people will help you find support. To help others understand your concerns, you may find it useful to write down examples and take these with you to appointments. This helps you to remember what you have noticed as it can be easy to forget important points under the pressure of an appointment.
If your child displays a physical symptom that only shows sometimes, it can help health visitors and GPS if you can film a short example on your phone to show them. If you do this, always ensure your child is safe and use your own phone so that you control the film.
You can find more useful advice and tips on working with professionals from Contact, the national charity for families with disabled children: