Care for children and teens is opening soon.

What actually helps in the meantime

None of this needs Seen, and none of it costs anything. If your child needs support now, this is where we’d point our own families.

1. 1

   Start with your GP

   A GP can look at what’s going on more broadly — sleep, mood, hearing and vision, development — and refer you to a paediatrician, who is usually the right specialist for a child. Ask specifically for a referral for assessment, and ask what the wait looks like.

2. 2

   Ask the school what they can put in place now

   Support at school does not require a diagnosis. Schools can arrange learning adjustments, and a conversation with the classroom teacher or the school’s wellbeing staff often starts help sooner than any clinical pathway will.

3. 3

   Use your state child health service

   Every state and territory runs a free child health service, and many have community paediatric or child development teams. Your GP can connect you, and there is no cost.

4. 4

   Start writing things down

   Whoever assesses your child will ask for examples across more than one setting — home, school, activities — and for what things were like earlier in childhood. Keeping a simple running note now makes that assessment faster and better whenever it happens, wherever it happens.

Seen does not assess children under 5. For a child that young, your GP or a paediatrician is the right first step.