Our face-to-face appointments

A Community Nursery Nurse (CNN) talks about face-to-face appointments.

We offer the 10-12 month and 2-2.5 year development reviews as face to face appointments in our venues.

Ashleigh Cresdee, CNN talks about what to expect.

Ashleigh has worked within our service for the last three years. She worked as a child practitioner in nursery settings for 16 years before joining us. She has worked with special needs children supporting the SENCO in nursery settings. She has undertaken additional training in baby massage, supporting tummy time, understanding autism, speech and language development, and infant feeding.

Tell us about what you are looking for at a development review?

I think about the development reviews in terms of giving an opportunity to parents to talk about their child’s development and ask questions about any concerns they have. I think about the child as a whole – the physical development, the emotional development, and the social development. On arrival at the appointment, it is lovely to watch the child’s communication with myself and the parents, and with the new environment at the clinic or children centre.

The main areas of their development I look at:

• Their physical development- are they walking? Are they talking? Are they sitting? Are they babbling?
• Their senses – can they see well? Can they hear well?
• Their communication – do they look at me? Do they look at the environment? Do they babble? Do they talk? Do they ask questions? Do they point?
• Behaviour? Do parents worry about behaviours they find challenging or unusual? Sleep? Eating? Tantrums?

How does the ASQ (Ages and Stages Questionnaire) help you with your assessment of a child’s development?

The ASQ is a tool. It’s definitely not just pass and fail. However, it does help us to look at all the areas of their development. If there are areas either you as a parent or I am concerned about, I have other tools I can use. My experience of the ASQ is that some questions have very high expectations of your children, for example walking on the 10 month ASQ, and talking on the 27-month ASQ. There are many areas that you may not even have tried with your child at home!

Tell us about the differences between face-to-face appointments and video appointments for a development review?

The positive about face-to-face appointments is that we can see your child in a new environment as sometimes they behave very differently than they do at home, and we know that the Covid pandemic has meant many children have had less experience of meeting strangers.

In our centres we often have toys additional toys that we can use to assess all areas of their development – some that you may not have at home due to the age of your child. Face-to-face appointments allow us to weigh and measure your child (although sometimes 2-year-olds won’t let themselves be weighed or measured!)

If you choose a video consultation we have the advantage of seeing your child in their own home and sometimes this means they are more relaxed and will play and talk to us on the screen.

What are your main health messages for children at a development review?

1. Development – we can give you advice and guidance on how you and your child can use play and communication to help them develop to their full potential. We can also direct you to some websites that we know have useful information. Take a look at: BBC Tiny Happy People
2. Diet – we can give you advice and guidance on healthy eating advice. However, being able to do the height and weight at the face-to-face appointment does enable us to give specific advice about your childs diet. Take a look at: Healthy Recipes and Healthy Portions
3. Teeth – as soon as the teeth erupt, it is very important to be brushing teeth twice a day. Take a look at: Baby’s first Dental Visit and Smile Please!
4. Sleep – we know that this is as important to the parents as much as it is their children! We can give general advice about setting routines but if sleep is a problem for you and your child we are able to offer additional contacts and support
5. Immunisations – we fully support the NHS immunisation programme. Take a look at: Vaccinating your Baby
6. Toilet training – at the two-year review this can be a hot topic! We are happy to give advice and support, as well as direct you to information we know will be helpful to you. Take a look at: Potty Training
7. Your well-being – we know that for your child’s health and well-being, you need to feel well yourself. We do routinely ask questions about your mental health and also more sensitive areas such as domestic abuse, both of which can impact on your ability to be the parent you would want to be.

Our face-to-face appointments

In some areas you will be sent the appointment or asked to phone to book. For face to face details of the venue are in the middle box within the letter, and the venue may be different to our “office” address in the top right corner.

In some areas you will be asked to use our SELF BOOKING service. A letter will be sent explaining how this is done. Then we will send you an SMS with a link to book your own appointment.

We look forward to meeting you and your child.