For who?

Children aged between 1 – 42 months

What is it?

A developmental assessment can help understand how your child is developing compared to other children their age. It looks at different areas of child development such as how they communicate, learn and move physically (motor skills). 

This multi-disciplinary developmental assessment is carried out by Psychology and Speech and Language Therapy or Psychology and Occupational Therapy.

When might a developmental assessment be useful? Young children develop at different rates and development is not always predictable. Some children will show skills (e.g. speaking their first words) earlier than expected and others might show them a bit later than expected. There is a range of ages which we expect different skills to be learned (e.g. babies generally crawl between 7 and 10 months of age). Sometimes children do not show some skills within the expected range (e.g. a child of 11 months may not be crawling) but they are showing lots of other age-appropriate skills (e.g. the 11 month-old baby is pointing, babbling and pulling themselves up to stand). If a child is not showing several skills that you would expect for their age then a developmental assessment will help identify if they are delayed in one aspect of development (e.g. language delay) or if they are delayed across all areas of development (i.e. global developmental delay).

What does developmental delay mean?

Developmental delay means that a child is at risk for being behind other children their age in this area of development. It does not mean for definite that they will always be behind their peers as development in the early years varies a lot. If a child is at risk for developmental delay then they will be referred (with your consent) to an appropriate service for support such as community speech and language services for a language delay. They will be supported in this area and their progress will be monitored over time. If difficulties continue when they are older then they may need a formal assessment to see if they have a specific developmental disorder (e.g. learning disability, specific language impairment etc.). When they are older their development is more predictable and assessments are more reliable if the child can sit down at a table and follow instructions.

What type of assessment is used?

The Bayley 3 developmental assessment identifies infant and toddler strengths and competencies, as well as their weaknesses. It is a standardised assessment used to identify risk of developmental delays in the areas of language, motor, cognitive ability or global developmental delay. It also examines the child’s social-emotional development and adaptive behaviour.

What happens in the assessment?

The clinician will let the child settle in first and make them feel comfortable. Some parts of the assessment will be done at a table (the child may sit on the parents lap or a chair if they are older). Some parts of the assessment will be done a play mat and some will involve activities like running or walking up a stairs (to look at how they move about). The clinician will also talk to the child’s parent about how the child typically gets on with various activities at home (e.g. asking questions like “does your child normally stop when you say “no”).

How long is the assessment?

The assessment usually takes between 30 – 90 minutes to complete (depending on the number of developmental domains assessed).

What happens after the assessment? The clinician will write up a report with your child’s results and observations about the child. Recommendations for supporting the child will be made in the report and these results and recommendations will be talked through with parents in a feedback meeting.

How much does it cost?

€900