Physical needs

How do I know if my child has a physical disability?
Talk to someone about your concerns
Supporting your child's physical needs at home and at school
Services you can be referred to
Organisations that can help

How do I know if my child has a physical disability?

What are physical needs or disabilities?

Physical needs or disabilities can affect a child or young person's ability to move, their ability to use their hands and feet to carry out everyday activities, and their stamina (the 'energy or strength to keep going'). Physical disabilities can vary widely: some children may have difficulty crawling, walking or running (sometimes known as 'gross motor skills'); others might find it difficult to write or use their hands to hold things such as scissors, or cutlery (sometimes known as 'fine motor skills').

Physical disabilities can arise from a range of conditions which affect the way a person's muscles work. Conditions which affect the brain’s ability to process information, and communicate with the rest of the body to produce movement are known as 'neurological'. You can be born with physical and neurological conditions, or they could be caused by injury - for example, a brain or spinal cord injury.

If you have concerns about your baby or young child's physical development, it might be worth checking whether they have reached the expected milestones for their age.

Find courses and things to do in Hertfordshire

Talk to someone about your concerns

Your first step might be to talk to your Health Visitor or GP.

They may watch your child’s movements or carry out some simple tests.
They will talk to you about your concerns.
You could consider taking some photographs or a video of your child to the appointment to help the professional see why you are concerned.
If the doctor or health visitor shares your concerns, they may refer your child to a paediatrician (specialist children’s doctor) or a physiotherapist.

If you have a general question about your child's physical development, speak to an Occupational Therapist or Physiotherapist on the Advice Line (ages 0-18)

This is a phone line run by The Children and Young People's Therapy Service for parents, carers and professionals.

01923 470680 (then select option 3, option 1, leave a message on the Advice Line and a therapist will contact you)
Open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day

If you have concerns about supporting your child's physical needs in school, speak to the Physical and Neurological Impairment team Advice Line (ages 5-25)

The Physical and Neurological Impairment team are specialist advisory teachers who work with parents and schools to support children and young people with physical and/or neurological impairment.

You can talk to them about concerns you might have about meeting your child's physical needs in the classroom.

01442 453920
Mondays 1.30 - 4pm (term time only)

Supporting your child's physical needs at home and at school

Self help resources for home and in the classroom

Our resource area has lots of practical information and advice for helping to support your child's movement, including videos like this one from the Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust.

View our self help resources for developing movement

Equipment for home and in the classroom

You might find your child needs specialist equipment to help their movement. The Occupational Therapy team can refer you to get what you need from Hertfordshire Equipment Service.

Find out more about specialist equipment

Other support for home

Our Support at home page has some other useful services that could help you:

free courses and workshops from health professionals and other parents - learn strategies and methods for supporting your child's needs.
Short Breaks - you might be able to get 40 hours of subsidised activities and club for your child, giving you a little break occasionally.
Home care support - for children with very complex needs, you may be able to get some help at home.

Other support at School

The physical and neurological impairment (PNI) team support children and young people from 5 - 25, by helping staff in schools to have strategies in place that will help a pupil access learning along with their classmates.

Find out more about the Physical and Neurological Impairment team

Services you can be referred to

Children's Occupational Therapy

This service supports children and young people with their independence in all aspects of daily living, such as self-feeding, dressing and participating in play and school activities. For ages 0 - 18 (or 0 - 25 with an EHCP). Your Health Visitor, GP or school can refer you to this service.

Children's Physiotherapy

This team supports children and young people who have a physical disability or condition that impacts on their development and their functional daily activities at home or in school. For ages 0-18. Your Health Visitor or GP can refer you to this service.

Community Paediatrics

This team of doctors and specialists work together to support and diagnose children with developmental disorders and neuro-disability. Your GP or Health Visitor can refer you to this service.

Special Care Dental Service

Treats patients of all ages who are unable to access dental treatment from their local high street dental service and provide a caring environment for patients with special needs. Your dentist can refer to this service, or you can self-refer.

Condition specific services

Children and Young People's Chronic fatigue service (East and North Herts)

This service aims to enable the patient and family to manage life with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or ME. For ages 0-18 in East Hertfordshire. You can be referred to this service by a Paediatrician.

Learn more about the Children and Young People's Chronic Fatigue Service

Children and Young People's Continence service (West Herts)

For children and young people aged 4 - 18 in West Hertfordshire, who are experiencing daytime wetting, night-time wetting and /or constipation/soiling/withholding. A parent or professional can refer to this service.

Learn more about the Children and Young People's Continence Service

Children and Young People's Epilepsy service (East and North Herts)

For ages 0-18 living in North and East Herts. This service runs dedicated epilepsy clinics, with specialist epilepsy nurses and consultant paediatricians with an additional qualification in epilepsy. Your GP can refer to this service.

Learn more about Children and Young People's Epilepsy Service

Musculoskeletal Service (East and North Herts)

For ages 8+ living in East and North Hertfordshire. A specialist assessment service for patients with conditions that affect the bones, joints and muscles. Your GP or consultant can refer to this service.

Learn more about the musculoskeletal service

Integrated Musculoskeletal Service (West Herts)

Herts Valleys Integrated Musculoskeletal Service provided by Connect Health supports patients (ages 8+) with conditions related to bones, soft tissues, muscles, joint and ligaments. They also help with other issues such as chronic pain, fatigue and postural stability. You can be referred by a doctor if you are in West Hertfordshire.

The service offers clinics and services in the community so you do not need to attend a hospital.

Learn more about the Integrated Musculoskeletal Service

Services for older children and adults:

Chronic Fatigue and Chronic Pain Management Service

For ages 18+. This service is made up of a specialist, multidisciplinary team of professionals, highly experienced in working with patients who have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and/or chronic pain. Your GP can refer to this service.

Neuro Community Therapy and Specialist Nursing

The Neuro Community Rehab team offers specialist rehabilitation to patients over 18 with a confirmed neurological diagnosis in East and North Hertfordshire. You can self-refer to this service, or be referred by a health professional.

Organisations that can help

Scope

Scope provide practical advice and emotional support through the Scope helpline, their online community, and a range of support services

Muscular Dystrophy UK

U.K's leading charity for people affected by muscle-wasting conditions. Information, advice, care & support.

The Child Brain Injury Trust

Supports families affected by childhood acquired brain injury. They focus on early intervention and helping to reduce potential long-term difficulties associated with childhood acquired brain injury.

The Bobath Cerebral Palsy Centre

This charity has highly trained team of specialist physio, occupational and speech and language therapists who have a deep understanding of cerebral palsy (CP), in all its complex and various forms.

Page was last updated on: 16/05/2024 15:41:17

Name	Type	How we use it	How long we use the information for
ASP.Net_Sessions	Required functionality	An automatic cookie set by our software.	Just for the time you are on our website.
ServerID	Required functionality	An automatic cookie set by our software.	Just for the time you are on our website.
_ga	Required functionality	To track the effectiveness of our website using Google Analytics.	2 years
saved-pages	Performance and feature	To save the pages that you visit by clicking the heart at the top of the page.	1 month
geoPostcode	Performance and feature	This stores your postcode (or partial postcode) when we ask you for your location.	Just for the time you are on our website or 30 days (you choose this).
geoCoordinates	Performance and feature	This stores your location as a pair of latitude / longitude coordinates.	Just for the time you are on our website or 30 days (you choose this).
reckonerName-history	Performance and feature	This keeps a history of all answers submitted to the ready reckoner.	This is set in the control for each ready reckoner. If you haven't interacted with the ready reckoner for the set amount of days, the cookies are deleted.
reckonerName-content	Performance and feature	This keeps a history of what content cards are clicked on when using the ready reckoner.	This is set in the control for each ready reckoner. If you haven't interacted with the ready reckoner for the set amount of days, the cookies are deleted.
SQ_SYSTEM_SESSION	Required functionality	This used to track user sessions on forms hosted on eservices.hertfordshire.gov.uk	Just for the time you are on our website.

Service name	Purpose	More information
Google analytics (_utma/b/c/z)	These are used to compile reports for us on how people use this site. Cookies of the same names are also used for the same purpose by other websites such as Building Futures, Countryside Management Service and Hertfordshire LIS.	Visit the Google Analytics website for more information about the cookies they use. You can prevent data from being collected and used by Google Analytics by installing Google's Opt-out Browser Add-on.
Google Translation - googtrans	This cookie is used to remember which language to translate each page into if you have chosen to do so.	It expires at the end of your browser session.
Bing	We use a Bing cookie to track the success of our marketing campaigns and make them more efficient.	Visit Bing to find out more about their cookies.
Google	We use a Google cookie to track the success of our marketing campaigns and make them more efficient.	Visit Google to find out more about their cookies.
Facebook	We have a number of presences on Facebook, which we may link to. Facebook may set some of its own cookies if you follow these links.	Visit Facebook to find out more about their cookies.
Twitter	We have a number of presences and feeds on Twitter, which you may wish to follow or read from this website. Twitter may set some of its own cookies.	Visit Twitter to find out more about their cookies.
YouTube	We have a YouTube channel, which we may link to. YouTube may set some of its own cookies if you follow those links.	Visit YouTube to find out more about their cookies.
Netloan	This ASP.NET_Sessionid cookie is essential for the Netloan secure online payments website to work, and is set when you arrive to the site. This cookie is deleted when you close your browser.
HotJar	This session cookie is set to let Hotjar know whether that visitor is included in the sample which is used to generate funnels.	Visit HotJar to find out more about their cookies.
Siteimprove	These cookies are set to help us report on how people are using the site so we can improve it.	Visit Siteimprove to learn more about their cookies.

Early years (ages 0 - 5 years)

Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP)

Courses and activities in Hertfordshire

Get support with education

Money

Preparing for adulthood

Services for children and young people (ages 0 - 25)

Services for parents, carers and families

Feedback and what to do if you're not happy