referral

A referral is a handover. Someone who has seen your child, usually a GP GP Your family doctor. For many families the GP is the first person to talk to, and the person who refers your child on to a specialist. Read the full definition of GP , a school, or a health visitor Health visitor A health visitor is a nurse or midwife with extra training who works with families from pregnancy until a child turns five. They do the development reviews and you can contact them directly. Read the full definition of Health visitor , writes to a specialist service asking them to take a look.

Who can refer depends on what for. For autism Autism Autism is a difference in how the brain develops. It shapes how an autistic child sees and experiences the world, how they communicate, and how they respond to things like noise, light and touch. Read the full definition of Autism , the NHS says "GPs can often refer children and adults to a local autism team Multi-disciplinary team Not one person, but a group of different professionals who assess your child together and agree the outcome between them. NHS neurodevelopmental assessments are done this way. Read the full definition of Multi-disciplinary team for an autism assessment", and adds that "your child's school may need to make the referral. If your child is not school age a health visitor may need to make the referral." For mental health, a GP, teacher, school nurse or social worker can put you in touch, and some services accept self-referral.

A referral being made is not the same as it being accepted. Specialist services apply their own criteria, and a referral can be declined or sent back for more information. This is worth knowing because it is the single most common place a family's progress quietly stalls.

Three questions are worth asking every time: who has it gone to, has it been accepted, and what is the wait locally.

Referral works this way across the UK, though the services on the other end differ by nation and area.