Children with disabilities
How we support children and families
Services for children and young people with disabilities and their families have been boosted by the integration of the council and NHS Highland into the Children’s Health and Social Care Service.
This builds on existing practice with allied health professionals such as:
- Occupational therapists
- Physiotherapists
- Speech and language therapists
- Dieticians
We have also been joined by children’s community learning disability nurses who were already integrated into the children’s disability service in central Highland.
To provide extra support for a child’s needs, we have created family teams to help each individual child.
The children’s disability teams are part of the family teams. This makes sure all children with disabilities are considered first as children, and their needs are assessed in the context of their family, school and community.
Families, schools and community
Children and young people with disabilities need to be included in and nurtured by their families, their schools and their communities.
The Self-directed Support (S-dS) legislation, has given us and NHS Highland another way to support this and improve outcomes for children and young people with disabilities. S-dS in Highland is seeking to shift resources to families affected by disability who are eligible for health and social care services so that they have more control and choice about how to meet their needs.