Worried about your child and not sure where to turn? To get your child assessed, you almost always start with your doctor, health visitor or school — but the exact door, and who pays, changes country by country. Pick yours below for the real first step, the school route, the private option, and an honest word about the wait.
Every country has a door into free or funded help for a child with a speech delay, a language delay, autism, ADHD or a developmental delay. Nobody tells you which door, or what to say when you knock. That is what this finder is for. It is written by Inclusive Developmental & Therapy Centre, a children’s therapy centre in Multan, Pakistan that also works with families online worldwide — so we spend a lot of time helping parents navigate somebody else’s system.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom NHS (free at the point of use)
How to start
Speak to your GP or health visitor about a referral to NHS speech & language therapy or community paediatrics. In many areas you can now refer your child straight to the SLT service yourself — ask your local NHS trust.
Support at school
In England, ask the school’s SENCo about support and, if needed, request an EHC needs assessment (EHCP) from your local authority. Scotland uses Additional Support for Learning (and a Co-ordinated Support Plan) instead — not an EHCP.
Going private
Private speech, occupational or psychology therapists are available (look for HCPC-registered practitioners); cost varies and many families use private input alongside the NHS while they wait.
The wait, honestly
NHS speech-therapy waits can run to several months in many areas — worth starting the referral early and, where allowed, self-referring at the same time.
Tip:Start two routes at once where you can: a GP/health-visitor referral and a self-referral to SLT, plus a word with the school SENCo.
Begin with your GP or Public Health Nurse, or contact your local HSE Primary Care team or Children’s Disability Network Team (CDNT). You are also entitled to request an Assessment of Need.
Support at school
School support is coordinated through the NCSE — ask your child’s school what’s available.
Going private
Private therapists are available across Ireland; many families use them while waiting for HSE services.
The wait, honestly
Assessment of Need and CDNT waits can be long — it’s worth requesting the Assessment of Need in writing early.
Tip:Put your Assessment of Need request in writing and keep a copy — it starts a formal process.
🇺🇸 United States Early Intervention & IDEA (public)
How to start
If your child is under 3, contact your state’s free Early Intervention program (IDEA Part C). From age 3, ask your local public school district for a free evaluation. Your pediatrician can also refer you.
Support at school
A school-district evaluation can lead to an IEP (or a 504 plan) for support at school — you can request it in writing at any time.
Going private
Private SLP, OT and ABA are widely available and often covered by health insurance or Medicaid — check your plan’s coverage.
The wait, honestly
Early Intervention has federal evaluation timelines, but private waits and insurance approvals vary a lot by area and plan.
Tip:Put referral and evaluation requests in writing — it starts the legal clock on timelines.
Support runs province by province — often publicly funded, with waitlists common. Start with your family doctor or local public health unit, and ask what preschool speech-and-language and early-intervention programs your province offers.
Support at school
School boards provide learning support — ask about an assessment and an IEP.
Going private
Private clinics are available in most cities; some costs may be covered by extended health benefits.
The wait, honestly
Publicly funded waits vary widely by province and city; many families bridge the gap with private sessions.
Tip:Ask specifically which provincial early-intervention or autism program covers your area — the names differ by province.
See your GP about a referral. A Chronic Disease Management plan can put some allied-health sessions on Medicare, and for eligible children the NDIS funds therapy and support.
Support at school
Schools provide learning support and can help you access an assessment.
Going private
Private allied-health therapists are widely available; Medicare and NDIS can offset some of the cost.
The wait, honestly
NDIS access decisions and popular providers can both involve waits — worth starting early.
Tip:Ask your GP about the NDIS early-childhood approach if your child is under 9 — it can be a faster route in.
Talk to your GP, your Plunket nurse, or your child’s early-childhood centre or school. The Ministry of Education provides early intervention and learning support.
Support at school
Ask your school or ECE about learning support and referral to specialist services.
Going private
Private therapists are available; some support may be publicly funded depending on need.
The wait, honestly
Specialist and early-intervention waits vary by region.
Tip:Contact the Ministry of Education’s early-intervention service directly — you don’t always need to go through a GP first.
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates Private centres + government regulators
How to start
Ask your paediatrician or your school’s inclusion unit for a recommendation. Care is largely through private child-development centres, licensed by the health regulators (Dubai’s DHA, Abu Dhabi’s DoH).
Support at school
Schools have inclusion/SEN departments — regulated by KHDA in Dubai, ADEK in Abu Dhabi and SPEA in Sharjah. Start with your school’s inclusion lead.
Going private
Most therapy is private; some health-insurance plans cover part of it — check with your insurer.
The wait, honestly
Access is usually quick privately, but cost and insurance coverage are the main things to confirm.
Tip:Ask your school’s inclusion department and your health insurer, in the same week, what each will cover.
Ask your paediatrician. Government hospitals and District Early Intervention Centres (under the RBSK child-health programme) provide services, and RCI-registered therapists practise privately.
Support at school
Ask your school about learning support; provision varies widely between schools.
Going private
Look for RCI-registered speech, occupational and clinical professionals for private therapy.
The wait, honestly
Public services can have long waits; private access is quicker in the cities.
Tip:When choosing a private therapist, ask whether they are RCI-registered.
Start with your child’s doctor or paediatrician and ask for a referral to speech & language therapy, developmental paediatrics or child psychology, whichever fits your worry.
Support at school
Ask your child’s school or early-years setting what learning support and specialist referrals they can arrange.
Going private
Search for a licensed or registered speech & language therapist, psychologist or developmental specialist in your area — check their registration with the relevant national body.
The wait, honestly
Waiting times and what’s free vary hugely between countries — ask locally what to expect.
Tip:If your child is ever in danger or crisis, contact your local emergency number or a crisis line straight away.
This points you to your own country’s services — the ones that give a formal diagnosis and funded therapy. We work online alongside them, in English or Urdu, never in place of them.
How do I know it’s time to get my child assessed?
Ask for an assessment when your child is behind the usual milestones for their age, when they have lost a skill they used to have, or when your gut keeps telling you something is wrong. You do not need to be certain, and you do not need a diagnosis first. A referral is a request to look.
Health services everywhere are stretched, so parents often wait until they are sure before speaking up. You do not have to be sure. If everything turns out to be fine, you will have been told so by somebody qualified to say it — and that is worth the phone call on its own.
If you want something concrete in your hand first, work through our free child development check, or compare what your child does with the milestone checklists by age. Neither is a diagnosis. Both give you words for what you have already noticed, which is exactly what a doctor or a teacher needs to hear. Many parents also recognise their own child in these everyday situations families bring to us.
One thing to say out loud: if your child has lost words, gestures or skills they used to have, mention that specifically when you ask. Losing a skill is one of the things services want to hear about early, and it is easy to leave out when you are nervous.
What do I actually say when I ask for a referral?
Describe what you have noticed, when it started, and what your child cannot yet do that other children their age can. Give examples rather than labels — “he has about ten words and doesn’t put two together” lands better than “he has a speech delay”. Then ask directly for an assessment, and ask for it in writing.
Five minutes with a pen before the appointment is worth an hour of explaining in it. Take:
A short list of what worries you, with rough dates — when you first noticed, and whether it has changed.
Two or three real examples from home. Clinics see ten minutes of your child; you see all day.
A rough word count across all the languages your child hears, added together.
Any hearing history — glue ear, repeated ear infections, a failed newborn screen, or a family history of speech difficulties.
One clear sentence of what you are asking for, so it cannot be misheard as a general chat.
Ask two questions before you leave, and write the answers down: how long is the wait, and what should we do in the meantime. If you are told to wait and see, ask what specifically they expect to see, and by when. A named review date — next term, or a set number of weeks — is reasonable; an open-ended wait is not.
Our questions parents ask us most covers the rest of the practical ground — what a first appointment feels like, who is in the room, and what happens afterwards. If an assessment has already happened and a diagnosis has landed in your lap, start instead with what to do in the first weeks after a diagnosis.
What can I do while we wait?
Start two routes at the same time. Join the public waiting list, and use the things that need no referral: tell your child’s nursery or school, build talking and play into ordinary daily routines, and get a private or online opinion if you want one. Waiting on a list is not the same as doing nothing.
Joining a waiting list does not stop you doing anything else. Whether starting privately or online affects your place in the public queue varies from service to service — ask yours directly rather than assuming either way.
The single most useful thing most parents do in the waiting months is smaller than they expect: more face-to-face talk, fewer questions, more waiting for a response. Get down to your child’s eye level, say the word for what they are looking at, and then pause long enough to feel awkward. That pause is where the turn-taking lives.
Waiting is also hard on you, and that part gets ignored. If the wait is wearing you down, our little reminders for the hard days were written for exactly that stretch.
Will they tell me it’s just because we speak two languages at home?
Growing up with two or more languages does not cause speech delay. Count your child’s words across every language they hear, added together, not one language at a time. A real language difficulty shows up in all of a child’s languages, not only in the one their school hears. Never drop your home language to help speech.
This matters most for families raising children away from home — Urdu, Punjabi, Saraiki, Pashto, Arabic or Bengali at home and English at nursery. A child who has some words in one language and different words in the other is drawing on both, and judging them on the school’s language alone will under-count what they can do. Mixing two languages inside one sentence is a sign of skill, not confusion.
So if a professional puts your worry down to bilingualism, it is fair to ask one question back: is my child behind in both languages? If the answer is yes, bilingualism is not the explanation and an assessment is reasonable. Our full answer is here: does raising a bilingual child cause speech delay?
Where you can, ask whether the service is able to assess in your home language or bring an interpreter — an assessment run only in a child’s weaker language will always look worse than the child is. Parents searching in Urdu will see this service called گویائی کا علاج; it is the same speech and language therapy described on this page.
FAQ
Getting help — your questions
Is this instead of local services?
No — the opposite. This finder points you to the services in your own country that can give a formal diagnosis and funded therapy. We are a child therapy centre based in Multan, Pakistan that also works with families online worldwide; our online parent coaching and support sits alongside your local services, not in place of them.
My country isn’t listed. What do I do?
Choose “Somewhere else” in the finder for the universal route: start with your child’s doctor or paediatrician for a referral, ask your school about learning support, and look for a licensed or registered speech & language therapist or psychologist near you. If your child is ever in crisis, contact your local emergency number straight away.
Should I wait for the public service or go private?
Where public waits are long, many families do both — they join the public waiting list and start privately in the meantime, then continue with whichever suits them. There’s no single right answer; it depends on the wait where you live, the cost, and how urgent your child’s needs feel. Starting the referral early keeps your options open.
How can you help if you’re in Pakistan and I’m not?
We work online, in English or Urdu, as parent coaching and support — practical strategies you can use at home, a second opinion, or help while you’re on a local waiting list. For a formal diagnosis or funded therapy you’ll use your own country’s services; we’re glad to work alongside them.
Do I need a diagnosis before therapy can start?
Often not. Many services offer speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and early support on the basis of what a child needs rather than a label, so practical help can begin while an autism or ADHD assessment is still months away. A diagnosis usually matters more for funding, school entitlements and legal rights than for starting therapy. Ask your service directly what it needs from you before it can begin.
How long will we wait for an assessment?
That depends entirely on where you live, and no website can tell you your local wait — the service itself can. When you make the referral, ask two questions: how long is the current wait, and what should we do in the meantime. Write both answers down. If the wait is long, ask whether there is a cancellation list you can be added to, and whether anything can be started before the assessment.
Our nursery says “wait and see”. Should we?
Sometimes waiting is reasonable, but a vague wait is not. Ask what exactly they expect to see and by when — more words by a set date, or a review next term. Put that date in your calendar. If it passes and nothing has changed, go back, and speak to your child’s doctor as well as the school. Asking early costs you nothing but a conversation, and an assessment that finds nothing is still a useful answer.
Take the first step
On a waiting list, or want a second opinion?
Wherever you are in the world, we can work with you online — practical parent coaching in English or Urdu, alongside your local services. Tell us what’s worrying you.
