Initial Concerns - Seeking Advice
Newham CAMHS Services & Resources: Under 5s
Service users are encouraged to speak to their childminder if applicable.
Family Navigators help families find and access support in Newham. They naviagte and signpost families to services, offers, and opportunities within Newham. They also provide practical advice and guidance where possible. They connect families to the right support they need, when they need it most, and tracking referrals made to services. They have a regular presence in key community settings and Family Hubs. They support families in feeling confident in accessing services by reducing barriers. The majority of their navigators speak a second language, and they also have connections to language trasnslation and interpreter services.
Age Range: Not listed - contact the email address below for more details
Contact Details: Family.Navigators@newham.gov.uk
Referral Details: Contact the email address above for more details
Weblink: https://families.newham.gov.uk/kb5/newham/directory/advice.page?id=YMPM8DKPXAY
Health visitors work with children and their families from the antenatal period until children are five. They work in partnership with other agencies such as midwives, GPs, schools, social workers, voluntary services and children centres. The Health Visiting Service offers support with becoming a parent, welcoming a new baby, emotional and mental wellbeing, infant feeding and weaning support, health promotion/education. developmental reviews, health lifestyle, managing minor illnesses to reduce hospital attendance, getting your child ready for school, and signposting and supporting to access community services.
Age Range: Under 5s
Contact Details:
0203 373 9983
Referral Details: Click the link to the website below and choose the service that applies by following the appropriate links on each page. referral criteria is various dependent on the service
Weblink: https://www.newham.gov.uk/children-families/health-visiting-service
Service users are encouraged to contact staff at their local children's centre.
Follow the link below to find your local children's centre: https://families.newham.gov.uk/kb5/newham/directory/family.page?familychannel=10
Service users are encouraged to speak to staff at their child's nursery or pre school setting. This could be a teacher, key person or the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo).
Universal Support (no diagnosis needed)
Health visitors work with children and their families from the antenatal period until children are five. They work in partnership with other agencies such as midwives, GPs, schools, social workers, voluntary services and children centres. The Health Visiting Service offers support with becoming a parent, welcoming a new baby, emotional and mental wellbeing, infant feeding and weaning support, health promotion/education. developmental reviews, health lifestyle, managing minor illnesses to reduce hospital attendance, getting your child ready for school, and signposting and supporting to access community services.
Age Range: Under 5s
Contact Details:
0203 373 9983
Referral Details: Click the link to the website below and choose the service that applies by following the appropriate links on each page. referral criteria is various dependent on the service
Weblink: https://www.newham.gov.uk/children-families/health-visiting-service
Little Talkers is a 4 week programme of face-to-face sessions where parents and children interact to practice communication skills. This programme is for families with concerns about their child’s speech, language and communication skills.
Delivered through the children centres, the practitioners running this programme have received training from the Early Years Speech and Language Therapy Team (ELFT). The Little talkers programme aims to equip carers with practical skills and strategies to support children in developing language and communication.
Age Range: Under 5s
Contact Details:
0203 373 2051
Referral Details: For children with a speech delay who need additional support around speech and communication.
In order to be referred to this group, please speak to any professional including a Speech and Language Therapist, Health Visitor, or your local Children's Centre.
Weblink: https://families.newham.gov.uk/kb5/newham/directory/family.page?familychannel=10
This is a parent-training group that provides advice and strategies for parents to use with their child at home to support play and communication. Attendees will receive 3 parent workshop sessions which may be face to face or virtual. These sessions will give attendees lots of practical advice, tips, and strategies to practice with their child. Members of the health visiting team deliver these sessions.
Age Range: Under 5s
Contact Details:
https://www.talkingtots.co.uk/contact/
Referral Details: Use the main website to find a class near you by entering your postcode, and then find the appropriate class and book onto it using the website. Note that age may vary based on the class.
Weblink: https://www.talkingtots.co.uk/
Targeted Support
The Language, Communication and Interaction Service (LCIS) is a multi-disciplinary team of specialist teachers, speech and language therapists and SEN Early Years and School- Age Practitioners. We are a specialist service that works with families; children’s centres; other early years settings; and schools to support and develop provision for children and young people aged 0-16 years with social communication difficulties, autism and for some with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and speech sound disorder.
Age Range: 0 - 16 years old
Contact Details:
0203 373 6321
Referral Details: For young people with autism or Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)/Speech Sound Disorder (including their schools and families). It is free to Newham organisations and residents.
For children of nursery age, a referral must be made via the Early Notification Panel. Early Years settings and any other agencies involved with the child can refer through this panel with parental consent.
For children aged 5-16, schools or any other agency involved can refer with parental consent using the LCIS referral form.
Parents can request that any of the above make a referral if appropriate.
Once a referral has been accepted, the level of and type of support offered by our service will vary depending on a range of factors.
Weblink: https://families.newham.gov.uk/kb5/newham/directory/service.page?id=Oo1YXQmeqVc
This is a drop in ‘stay and play’ group for up to 6 families with children who have additional needs around their play, interaction and communication. It offers a range of engaging activities to support communication, sensory needs, social skills, play and interaction skills. Delivered by trained staff within the children’s centres, the group is also supported by skilled autism practitioners from LCIS.
Little Champions groups are weekly drop in session for parents to practice play and interaction as well as provide opportunities to network with other parent’s with similar concerns. The group is run at different children’s centres across the Borough of Newham.
Age Range: Under 5s
Contact Details:
0203 373 2051
Referral Details: For children who have additional needs around their play, interaction, and communication. This is available via the local children's centre of the service user, which can be found using the following link: https://families.newham.gov.uk/kb5/newham/directory/family.page?familychannel=10
Weblink: N/A
Further Support
ACP are the main professional body for Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists in the UK. They offer a series of leaflets written by experienced Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists to give parents, grandparents, carers and professionals additional insight into children's feelings and view of the world and to help make sense of their behaviour.
Age Range: Under 5s
Contact Details:
0207 922 7751
admin@childpsychotherapy.org.uk
Referral Details: No referral is needed. Follow the link to the website below for information.
Weblink: https://childpsychotherapy.org.uk/resources-families/understanding-childhood
CHAND is the Children’s Autism in Newham Diagnostic service for children who show features of autism or have differences in their play and social communication. It is part of the Specialist Children’s and Young Peoples Service (SCYPS) and CHAND is based at Lord Lister Health Centre.
CHAND assess children whose parents and professionals notice that they play and interact differently (social communication skills) to see if they are autistic.
The CHAND team is a made up of Doctors, Psychologists, Therapists, Educational psychologists and Nurses who are highly skilled in assessing for autism. They can suggest things that will help your child to feel more confident and tell you where to look for help with building your skills and your child’s.
Age Range: Under 5s
Contact Details:
0203 373 2051
Referral Details: For children with autism. Your child may need to be referred to CHAND by a therapist, GP or school staff (teacher or SENCO). When the team get the referral, they check that they have enough information to show that assessment is the best plan.
Weblink: https://families.newham.gov.uk/kb5/newham/directory/advice.page?id=sDA7P7IYkG0
This is a holistic intervention programme of support for early year’s children with social communication needs or autism and their parents and carers.
It is made up of 6 one to one direct face to face sessions. In each session families and children will access the following activities
a) music therapy, b) a family support worker, c) speech and language therapy, d) sensory differences, e) a sensory story and f) a play session.
The parent and the child visit each of the activity stations in their session, taking part together and working on strategies they can use to support their child at home.
Age Range: Under 5s
Contact Details:
0203 373 6321
Referral Details: Children attending must have an identified social communication need and be known to LCIS. Places on this programme are allocated through the early notification process.
Weblink: https://families.newham.gov.uk/kb5/newham/directory/service.page?id=Oo1YXQmeqVc
A course for parents of children with a child aged 0 – 5 which is ‘pan’ disability e.g. where there is development delay, ASD or learning difficulties. This is an eight week course for 2.5 hours per week. It is presented by a practitioner and a parent with lived experience
Age Range: Under 5s
Contact Details:
07814078247
Referral Details: For those with development delay, ASD, or learning difficulties. Places on this training are allocated following an early notification, please speak to your child’s health visitor, speech and language therapist, key person or other professional to ask about an early notification for your child.
Weblink: https://families.newham.gov.uk/kb5/newham/directory/service.page?id=5mcYylgWKZs
MENCAP offer a range of support including family connectors, a vibrant whatsapp group for parent support, and a DLA application support.
Age Range: Under 5s
Contact Details:
0207 454 0454
Referral Details: Referral criteria is various dependent on the service. Contact the number above to enquire.
Weblink: https://www.mencap.org.uk/
Sessions where your child can explore and participate in messy play with different textures e.g. wet sand, water, food play- very good for helping when children are showing signs of fuss feeding or not liking to touch different textures.
Age Range: Under 5s
Contact Details:
0203 373 2051
Referral Details: Make contact using the details above to query how to join.
Weblink: https://families.newham.gov.uk/kb5/newham/directory/family.page?familychannel=10
OCEAN (Offering Compassionate Emotional Support for those Living Through Birth Trauma & Birth Loss) is an integrated maternity and mental health service. It provides support for those experiencing or those who have experienced birth loss or birth trauma
Age Range: Under 5s
Contact Details:
0208 510 8151
Referral Details: For those who live or within the London boroughs of City & Hackney, Newham, and Tower Hamlets.
Refer using the following link: https://www.elft.nhs.uk/form/elocean-self-referral-form-
Weblink: https://www.elft.nhs.uk/services/ocean-mental-health-service-east-london
Many children who have ASD have some difficulties with sleep. Sleep Right is a face to face service that helps parents and carers of disabled children to improve their child's sleep.
For concerns around children sleep routines, SCOPE provide 6 week's support from a sleep consultant, group learning sessions, bespoke sleep plans, a sleep diary and other support.
Age Range: Under 5s
Contact Details:
0808 800 3333
Referral Details: For parents and carers of disabled children with sleeping difficulties. To refer, complete the online application form here: scope.org.uk/sleep-right
Weblink: https://www.scope.org.uk/family-services/sleep-right/
Provided by health visiting and specialist health visiting service.
Age Range: Under 5s
Contact Details:
0203 373 9983
Referral Details: For those with sleep difficulties. To access, phone the Health Visitor phone line provided above.
Weblink: https://www.newham.gov.uk/children-families/health-visiting-service
Children learn and develop important skills through play. Stay and play sessions show you how you can support your child's learning at home. These sessions are open to everyone and you can also meet other local families.
Age Range: Under 5s
Contact Details:
0203 373 2051
Referral Details: Make contact using the details above to query how to join.
Weblink: https://families.newham.gov.uk/kb5/newham/directory/family.page?familychannel=10
Basic workshop run by health visitors and a more targeted workshop run by specialist health visiting.
Age Range: Under 5s
Contact Details:
0203 373 9983
Referral Details: For those with toileting difficulties. To access, phone the Health Visitor phone line provided above.
Weblink: https://www.newham.gov.uk/children-families/health-visiting-service