Early years for children with SEND

In your child's early years, you may have questions or concerns about their development - this may be because of a health condition identified during pregnancy or at birth, or because you worry their development is not as you anticipated. You can discuss your concerns with your doctor or your health visitor.

In this section:

Health

In Hillingdon, there is a wide range of universal and specialist health services for children with special educational needs and disabilities. For some services, you will require a referral from a health professional and an appointment. .

Health Visiting Service

Our health visiting teams work with parents, carers and families to promote the health and wellbeing of children - from pregnancy until school age. Health visitors are nurses or midwives who have undertaken additional training in community public health nursing.

By supporting parents to learn and develop the skills required to bring up their children, our health visiting teams help give the new generation the best possible start in life.

Our routine health visitor contacts for all children in Hillingdon are:

  • antenatal
  • new baby visit (10 to 14 days after a baby is born)
  • 6 to 8 week check (when a baby is between 4 and 8-weeks-old)
  • health and developmental review (at 8 to 12 months)
  • health and developmental review (at 2 to 2.5 years).

Routine health reviews are designed to pick up any concerns you have about your child's health and development, and to ensure that if you or your baby/toddler need any support from other services, we can help you to access these.  

Read more about the Health Visiting Service


Children's Integrated Therapy Service (CITS) 

The CITS is a team of qualified speech and language therapists, physiotherapists and occupational therapists who work together with professionals/settings to support 0 to 19-year-olds and their families, through assessment, therapy, training and advice.

The service works in a range of settings, including local health clinics, children's centres, and the Child Development Centre, and is made up of the following teams:

  • Hillingdon Talks 
  • Hillingdon Moves 
  • Hillingdon Plays.

Learn more about Hillingdon Talks, Moves and Plays

Page last updated: 17 Jul 2023