Specialist Services for children at the CDC
October 2023 - Important Information about ADHD Medication
There is currently a national shortage of ADHD medications, and you may sadly find your medication is out of stock in local pharmacies.
Medicines are anticipated to be back in stock between October and December 2023. In the meantime, your pharmacy may be able to provide you current dose of medication by using several smaller doses, or they may change you to an equivalent medicine if one exists.
If you have been happy with your current medication, you may wish to wait for it to come back in stock rather than switching to a different one. This is because a different medication could lead to different side effects, and there is a risk that the alternative medication may also go out of stock.
If you have a small amount of medicine left, you may wish to use this on school days only.
If you are on guanfacine please contact your specialist prescriber.
You may like to talk to those supporting you in school to let them know you might need some extra help to concentrate in class during this period. Schools should have been made aware of this issue as well.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the secretary for your usual clinician. If you are unsure who that is, you can contact our team via plh-tr.CDCPlymouth@nhs.net giving your child's details, their current medications and how much you have left. The clinical team are answering a high level of queries in addition to normal workloads, but will get advice to you as soon as possible.
We know how disruptive this is for children, young people & their families and have escalated the risks to them within the trust. The issue is also receiving news coverage locally and nationally. We very much hope consistent supply will be return soon.
Plymouth Community Paediatric Team
Autism Assessment Pathways
Our assessment teams work together in order to achieve an outcome that best explains your child’s needs at the time of assessment.
Sometimes, we are not able to reach a diagnostic outcome, however we will always aim to highlight areas of need as well as the strengths that a young person has demonstrated.
We may also provide some signposting or support onward referrals following completion of the pathway in order to meet any identified needs. We do not however, hold a caseload of children for ongoing support within this service.
Early years Autism Assessment Pathway
As part of the Early Years assessment pathway for Autism, you and/or your child will meet a psychologist, specialist nursery nurse and speech and language therapist. These assessments will usually take place in an education setting, as well as at the Child Development Centre.
School Age Autism Assessment Pathway
As part of the school age assessment pathway for Autism, you and/or your child could meet a range of professionals. This may include a speech and language therapist, clinical psychologist, specialist support worker, or nurse as well as an ADOS assessment. These assessments may take place in education settings as well as at the Child Development Centre.
Speech and Language Therapy
Our speech and language therapy team is separate from the Livewell community speech and language therapy service. Most speech and language needs will be assessed and managed by Livewell however we are involved in some more specific areas of need.
Autism Assessment
The role of the speech and language therapy team here at the Child Development Centre is primarily as part of the Autism assessment pathway. We are involved in assessing strengths and areas of need within a young person’s language in particular, and this can include understanding and using spoken language as well as the social use of these skills.
If we identify needs within these areas, we will often provide some explanation of these and provide some recommendations as to how to support these.
Some of these recommendations are explained below with additional resources to explain this further.
Autistic young people often face challenges within their communication. We try to provide information and resources as to how we can support these young people to underrstand their communication.
Children’s Wards
Our speech and language therapy team also provide an inpatient service for children and young people within Derriford Hospital experiencing difficulties with feeding, eating, drinking and swallowing.
As part of this, we would meet with you and your child whilst on the wards in the hospital. This will involve observing eating or drinking skills and seeing if there are modifications that may help to develop or improve these skills.
We also liaise with the doctors, nursing team and wider professionals within the hospital.
Nursing
We have a team of specialist nurses and support workers who work in various roles with Autistic young people or ADHD or a learning difference. Our senior nurses, often working as an advanced practitioner or Consultant nurse, may oversee a young persons care from the outset. Our wider team may support with ongoing care & support, often liaising with other teams and services. We also deliver support via a number of workshops.
ADHD Resources
We have put together some helpful resources including reading material, videos and websites which may be helpful for those being considered for or those with a diagnosis of ADHD. Please click on the relevant links below for more information and support:
ADHD Resources https://cdcgo.link/ADHDresources
ADHD Resources for Children https://cdcgo.link/ADHDforChildren
ADHD Resources for Teens https://cdcgo.link/ADHDforTeens
