Skylark Child Development Centre

The Skylark Child Developmental Centre provides a family centred multidisciplinary service for children from birth to 19 years of age, who live or are educated within Inverclyde. The team works in collaboration with parents and other agencies to provide assessment treatment and support for children with a range of developmental problems using a pathway approach.

There are two multi disciplinary care pathways within Specialist Community Paediatric services encompassing

• Disability Pathway
  • Complex route
  • Non – complex route
• Vulnerable Pathway
  • Community based vulnerability services
  • Child protection
  • Comprehensive Medical Assessment
  • Looked After Children

The Specialist Community Paediatric Team are based within Skylark Child Development Centre members of the team include:

• Community Paediatricians
• Physiotherapists
• Occupational Therapists
• Dieticians
• Community Paediatric Nursing
• Administrative staff

How does a child get referred to the Skylark Centre?

Any professional working with a child can make a Request for Assistance:

• GP
• School nurses
• Health Visitors (named person for children 0-5 years)
• Education (named person for children 5-18 years)
• Hospital Paediatricians (acute)
• Colleagues from within the Specialist Community Paediatric Team
• Social Work

A Request for assistance can be made for various reasons:

• Developmental delay
• Physical disability
• Neuro muscular problems
• Sensory problems
• Co-ordination difficulties
• Autistic Spectrum disorder 
• Speech, language & communication problems

What happens after we receive a Request for Assistance?

Specialist Community Paediatric team operate a Duty System where all Request for assistance that are not part of a statutory process will be analysed via a standard process which will allocate a response.

Specialist Community Paediatric team will provide a response to all request for assistance by responding in one of three ways:

• Provide Guidance and direction to the requester that will help them to hold the child or young person at their level of intervention. This may be consultation, written guidance, discussion.

• Identify and confirm that the child or young person requires a specialist service and move them on to the appropriate care pathway or staged care journey within the Specialist Community Paediatric team

• Confirm that the child or young person requires specialist service but that the provision required is out with Specialist community Paediatric team. The request can then be redirected to the appropriate service (e.g. Child Adolescent Mental Health Services).

Following allocation to a pathway or stage care journey, a Pathway coordinator will be allocated to ensure all services are coordinated and monitored. See under Documents on this page for more details of the Process Disability Pathway. 

Page last updated: 27 February 2019