Frequently Asked Questions

About Developmental Paediatrics

Why was Developmental Paediatrics started?
Developmental Paediatrics was established to create a centre of excellence in the care of children, adolescents and families in Sydney. We are a unique comprehensive assessment and treatment centre, and are conveniently located close to transport and parking. We have created a specialist team by bringing together a diverse range of professions including Developmental Paediatricians, Clinical Psychologists, Neuropsychologists, Speech Pathologists, Dietitians, as well as an Educational/Developmental Psychologist, Occupational Therapist, Physiotherapist, Paediatric Sleep Physician, Senior Child Health Medical Officer, General Paediatrician and Learning Support Teacher. We share a love of seeing children collaboratively, and as co-located practitioners, we are able to share our experiences and perspectives of working with your child. For many conditions we are also able to provide a multi-disciplinary assessment model. This means that the professionals who are seeing your child can work together and collaborate all under the one roof and on the same day, before giving you an agreed plan of recommendations. We believe in assisting every child to reach their potential with empathy, respect and professionalism.

What types of concerns warrant an appointment at Developmental Paediatrics?
Our specialty team of over 20 professionals sees children and adolescents with a range of concerns about their development, behaviour, emotions, and learning including conditions such as ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorders, school refusal, anxiety, language delays, articulation disorders, fine and gross motor difficulties, and weight management. In addition, our General Paediatrician and Paediatric Sleep Physician are specialists in their respective fields and see children with a range of health concerns. We have a Senior Learning Support Teacher who specialises in creating individual learning plans and can liaise with your child’s school counsellor, class teachers, and school learning support staff, as well as any tutors involved.

What is a multi-disciplinary assessment?
A multi-disciplinary assessment is a comprehensive consultation by a team of professionals who work together in a joint assessment of your child, rather than working separately in their particular fields.

For School age children, this has been designed as a comprehensive, collaborative team assessment enabling busy families to have their child or adolescent seen by an expert team in one centre. Both parents and children are involved in the assessment for the day. It is a new and innovative model of complete care designed for 6-17 year old children with developmental, learning, attention, or behavioural concerns, and involves:
• A Development Paediatrician assessment
• A Clinical Psychologist assessment
• A nutritional assessment by an Accredited Practising Dietitian
• A hearing test
• A cognitive assessment (IQ test)
• An educational assessment of your child’s strengths and weaknesses in various academic areas such as numeracy and literacy.
• An analysis of your child’s teacher’s reports and standardised assessment questionnaires.
• A collaborative case conference amongst experts who have assessed your child
• An individual multi-disciplinary plan detailing a clear path of therapies, learning support, or further testing.
• Feedback and discussion.

For younger children aged 6 months – 5 years, this has been designed as an initial appointment with a Developmental Paediatrician together with a Speech Pathologist or Psychologist, which will determine the direction of further assessment and therapy from our team of experts. This can include formal developmental or cognitive assessment tools, autism specific assessments, medical investigations, or assessments in speech pathology, occupational therapy, dietetics, and psychology.

Both of these assessments offer individualised assessment, with recommendations tailored to your child’s needs included in a collaborative integrated report.

How do I know whether my child needs a multi-disciplinary assessment or to see one practitioner?
Developmental Paediatrics believes that our comprehensive early childhood and school age multi-disciplinary assessments represent best-practice in the field. Where there are concerns about a child or adolescent in a number of areas such as development, behaviour, learning, nutrition or attention, these are ideal models of assessment. These include concerns which are significant enough to warrant a consultation with a Developmental Paediatrician. One benefit of these assessment days is that they save many days of missed school and work going to multiple appointments with different health professionals.
In other situations, there may be concerns in one area alone, in which case a consultation with an individual practitioner may be more appropriate. These may include language concerns prompting a Speech Pathologist assessment, Behavioural/emotional concerns prompting consultation with a psychologist, or dietary concerns prompting consultation with a dietitian. Your General Practitioner is best placed to guide you as to the most appropriate avenue for assessment.
Our Developmental Paediatricians are available to be seen as part of comprehensive multi-disciplinary assessments and subsequent follow up of children aged 6 months-18 years. Should your child already have a diagnosis after a comprehensive assessment, or if your child is already on ongoing treatment, then a consultation with a Developmental Paediatrician can be arranged for continuing care. Please contact our office for further information.

Are reports provided after assessments?
Reports are always provided after a multi-disciplinary assessment and communication with your General Practitioner is routine after all subsequent appointments with Paediatricians. Reports are also available after assessments with other practitioners. In some cases these are routine, and in others cases these attract an additional charge. Some assessments with practitioners occur over a number of appointments, and as such a report is only provided to your General Practitioner after this is completed.

Do I need to make an appointment for scripts for medication?
In the majority of cases, where our Developmental Paediatricians prescribe medication such as those used in the treatment of conditions such as ADHD, regular review is required to ensure that the dose is appropriate, side effects are minimised, and the medication is being safely used. As a result, our doctors do not write scripts for medication without seeing a patient unless there are extenuating circumstances. Some medication such as those required for general paediatric problems (for example sleep, constipation, asthma, and some specialty formulas) can be prescribed by your General Practitioner.

Making appointments and arranging referrals

Do I need a referral to be seen?
In order to receive a Medicare rebate for seeing a Paediatrician, a valid Medicare referral is required. This is usually from your General Practitioner, although it can be from a specialist. A GP referral is usually valid for 12 months, whilst a specialist referral is valid for 3 months. If allied health practitioners are seen with a Chronic Disease Management Plan or Better Access to Mental Health Plan then these referrals are required in order to attract a Medicare rebate.

Fees and Rebates

How much does a consultation or assessment cost?
Consultation and assessment costs vary depending on length, consultation type, and practitioner. The admin team is happy to discuss the fee schedules with you at the time of booking.
We require payment at the time of consultation and accept payments via Visa, Mastercard or EFTPOS.
We do not accept payments by cash, cheque or AMEX payments
Medicare rebates will be processed at the time of consultation. Rebates are usually credited to your bank account within 24-48 hours.
Kindly refer to Medicare for any additional information about claiming or registering your bank account details.

Will I get a Medicare or health fund rebate for a consultation?
Consultations from doctors with a valid referral attract a Medicare rebate. Consultations with allied health practitioners under an appropriate Medicare plan (Better Access to Mental Health Care or Chronic Disease Management Plan) also attract Medicare Rebates. Some practitioner’s consultations are also eligible for the Helping Children with Autism, Better Start for Children with Disabilities, and National Disability Insurance Scheme benefits. Consultations with the Learning Support Teacher do not attract a Medicare or health fund rebate.

Attendance and Cancellations

What do I need to bring to appointments?
Please bring your Medicare card to appointments, your referral, as well as your preferred method of payment. For all initial appointments, please bring the following: the most recent school report, NAPLAN results, previous medical test results, report from specialists, as well as assessment or therapy reports from Psychologists, school counsellors, or allied health practitioners.

Who should attend an appointment?
Your child always needs to attend appointments unless specifically arranged with their practitioner. For Medicare eligible appointments, the client always needs to be present at the practice.

How long are the appointments?
Appointment lengths vary. You will be notified of the expected appointment length at the time of booking an appointment.

What if we are unable to attend an appointment?
If your appointment is cancelled at short notice or not attended, we are unable to fill it with another client. This means that an appointment time which could have been used to help another child and their family has been lost. For standard appointments, 24 hours’ notice is required in order to cancel or reschedule an appointment. If less than 24 hours’ notice is given or a client does not attend an appointment, then the consultation fee will be due, and unfortunately no rebate can be given since no consultation occurred. A fee charged for such an appointment must be paid prior to your family receiving any further services at Developmental Paediatrics. For multi-disciplinary assessments, deposits are taken and advanced notice is required if you are unable to attend. This will be communicated with you at the time of booking.

Policies

Does Developmental Paediatrics have a policy regarding sharing information and shared decision making where parents are separated?
We believe that a child’s best interests are served where there is open communication, shared decision making, and consistency between parents regarding parenting and a child’s health and education. This is even more important where parents are separated. When one parent makes an appointment, it is the responsibility of this parent to communicate all information about the appointment to other caregivers, including the other parent. Letters or reports are provided to the child’s General Practitioner, and can also be shared with one or both parents if appropriate. When one parent makes an appointment, it is their responsibility to invite the other parent to the appointment should they wish. Where there is a shared parenting situation, please either notify your treating practitioner of the custody arrangement at the initial appointment, or provide any family court orders which are in place.

Does Developmental Paediatrics have a privacy policy?
Our privacy policy is found on our Homepage using this link.