Child Development Teams

Overview

The Child Development Teams (CDT) are a group of health professionals who specialise in assessing, diagnosing, and treating children with additional support needs.  

Difficulties may be physical, social, emotional, behavioural, sensory or related to learning ability. 

There are 6 Child Development Teams across Aberdeen city and Aberdeenshire comprising of: 

• Paediatricians
• Occupational Therapists
• Physiotherapists
• Speech and Language Therapists
• Therapy Support Workers
• Community Children’s Nurses
• Nursery Nurses
• Team Secretaries

We aim to provide 

• A fully integrated service for children with complex, long-term needs
• A family-centred, high-quality service delivered in the most appropriate community setting for the child and their family e.g. home, nursery, school or CDT clinic
• Early support to families which is co-ordinated, accessible and responsive to the individual needs of the child and their family

Who can make a Request for Assistance (RfA)? 

Children and young people can be referred to any of the team by their General Practitioner (GP), Health Visitor (HV), community paediatrician, hospital doctor or other health professional. 

AHPs will also accept referrals from parents and young people directly: 

Physiotherapy: gram.cdtphysiotherapy@nhs.scot 

Occupational Therapy: gram.childrensoccupationaltherapy@nhs.scot 

Speech & Language Therapy: gram.cchspeechtherapy@nhs.scot 

All new RfA will be triaged by experienced members of the team and while occasionally contact may only involve a reassuring conversation, often an assessment will be offered. 

Following assessment, a plan will be drawn up in consultation with parents/carers recommending interventions to support the child’s identified needs. 

Often two or more of the CDT Health Professionals are involved with your child’s care, including a paediatrician. The CDT allows for really close working across the disciplines to ensure your child’s needs are met in a seamless, integrated manner. 

Sometimes, only one of the CDT Health professionals require to be involved at any given time, but due to the locations of our teams across Grampian, we can provide care closer to your home and reduce the need to travel to RACH. 

Working together 

The Child Development Teams collaborate closely with other professionals, including those from: 

Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital 

Primary Care Services e.g. GP and Health Visitors 

Schools and other Education Services (incl. Education Psychology) 

Orthotics 

Wheelchair services  

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) 

Social Work Services 

Third Sector Organisations. 

Commercial partners (eg. Equipment reps)