For further information about other support available can be found here.
The Little Orange Book
The Little Orange Book is a great resource and covers everything from common minor ailments like teething, constipation and colds, through to more serious conditions like urinary tract infections and wheezy chests. The booklet uses a traffic light system to help parents and carers decide what action to take when their child is sick. It points parents in the right direction, letting them know whether self-care, consulting with a primary care professional (Pharmacists or GP), a 111 call, or even a visit to Accident and Emergency is the right course of action.
The Little Orange Book is available to download to share with others, whether as an emailed PDF or a link via social media.
For more information and to access the download please visit: https://northeastnorthcumbria.nhs.uk/our-work/workstreams/children-and-young-people/little-orange-book/
Down Syndrome Parent Champion Service
Down Syndrome North East (DSNE) have parent champions who are here to support you. Parent Champions can share with you what support is available locally and nationally for children with Down Syndrome and from their own experiences are able to offer advice and guidance on accessing appropriate services and support.
If you would like to be linked in with a parent champion for a chat, please email support@dsne.org.uk and one of the team will be in touch.
Family Support Service
The Family Support Service supports children and young people aged 0-18 years and their families, no matter where they are on their autism, ADHD, sensory processing, or Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) journey.
This means that a child or young person does not need to have a diagnosis or be on the neurodevelopmental pathway to access support from the service.
The service can support in various ways including developing routines, visuals and social stories, understanding communicative behaviour, identifying your child’s needs and sensory strategies and regulation. The team will also signpost and refer to other services that could support you.
The Family Support Service also provide a variety of learning and educations workshops and weekly drop-in sessions to help support children, young people, and their families.
For further information and how to access these services please visit:
https://www.daisychainproject.co.uk/family-support-service
Healthier Together Website and App
Healthier Together is a website and downloadable app that provides accurate and trusted NHS healthcare advice for parents, carers, young people & health professionals.
Healthier Together is also available to download as an app to your mobile phone, just search “Healthier Together” in your app store.
To access the website and download the app please visits: https://www.nenc-healthiertogether.nhs.uk/
Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)
NHS North East North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) is responsible for providing services to meet the needs of the local population and all services have a responsibility to continually improve the services provided.
The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) offer confidential advice, support and information on health-related matters. They provide a point of contact for patients, their families, and their carers. You can also find officers from PALS in your local hospital.
PALS provides help in many ways, for example, it can help you with health-related questions, help resolve concerns or problems when you’re using the NHS and tell you how to get more involved in your own healthcare. PALS can give you information about health services and the NHS complaints procedure, including how to get independent help if you want to make a complaint, as well as support groups outside the NHS. PALS also help to improve the NHS by listening to your concerns and suggestions.
The North of England Commissioning Support Unit (NECS) provide a complaints function on behalf of the ICB. Each individual NHS provider trust has their own internal complaints procedures.
In Hartlepool this service is provided by Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS).
More information can be found by visiting the following links:
Shine
Shine provides specialist advice and support for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
If you:
- Have Spina Bifida or Hydrocephalus
- Are pregnant and have had a recent diagnosis of Spina Bifida, Hydrocephalus, Encephalocele or Anencephaly
- Have a child with Spina Bifida or Hydrocephalus
- Live with or care for someone with these conditions
- Are a professional providing support
Then please join us, for free, as a member.
As a member of the Shine family, you’ll receive:
- FREE access to national and regional support groups
- Invitations to national and regional events
- A network of peers to help you
- FREE help and advice from our trained specialists
- A FREE copy of our twice yearly magazine Together
- Option to join our FREE home delivery service
We’re here to help!
To access local services, please contact Shine Charity.
Alternatively, you can email firstcontact@shinecharity.org.uk or call 01733 555988.
Tees Valley Sleep Service
It’s common for children to struggle with sleep at different times of their lives depending on what’s going on for them at the time. Things like a rough day at school or anticipation for non-uniform day can cause all children to have sleepless nights. When this is consistent, or you have a child who cannot communicate effectively then these life events can be huge mountains to climb. Taking a consistent, calm, and positive approach to sleeping and sleep hygiene can really help you feel more in control of your sleeping. Remember there is no right or wrong way; there is only your way.
In rare circumstances some children can experience sleep apnoea. It can be caused by enlarged tonsils or adenoids in children. Signs are snoring and increased tiredness during the day. This needs specialist support, and you should seek support from your GP or paediatrician for this.
The Tees Valley Sleep Service is co-delivered across the Tees Valley by health services and the Family Support Team at Daisy Chain. Using a tiered approach the service provides telephone support, resources, workshops and one to one sleep assessments as well as offering bespoke sleep support if required.
The service can be accessed by families who have a children and young people between the ages of 2.5 and 18 years old that have any additional needs. There are three different referral routes into the service, a self-referral, a referral from the family support team at Daisy Chain or from the health visiting or school nursing team.
The service is provided by Sleep Scotland and is currently running as a pilot that has been co-produced with NHS North East & North Cumbria Integrated Care Board, 5 local authorities and 5 parent carer forums. More information can be found at: https://teesvalleysleepservice.co.uk/
The Sleep Charity and The Sleep Council also provide useful hints and tips. There is also information from the NHS for younger children with sleeping difficulties.
https://thesleepcharity.org.uk
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/sleep-problems-in-children
Anxiety
There are times in our lives that we feel anxious and worried. For children this can come out in their behaviour, how they involve themselves at school or with friends. Children at varying ages do not have the language to express how they are feeling (even some adults can struggle with this!) and this makes it even harder for them to understand.
Younger children often struggle to ‘talk’ about things and using play can help them express how they are feeling a bit more. Doing art and craft, going to the park, building Lego or any kind of play can help children process their emotions and might prompt them to be able to share.
Older children can be more difficult to engage in talking. Using text instead can help them open up without the emotional pressure of eye contact and feeling judged that a lot of children can feel.
ThinkNinja is designed for children and young people (10-18 years old) to help educate about mental health and emotional wellbeing. ThinkNinja also helps children and young people learn and develop a range of skills for when they are experiencing daily life stresses or who maybe feeling anxious. ThinkNinja was created by child mental health psychologist experts with help from young people to make sure the content, skills and how we talk about mental health and mood are just right and fun to use.
You can download the app from the following link:
https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/thinkninja/id1425884328
If your child is worried for a long period or is starting to withdraw from activities and personal connections in their lives, then please seek support from your GP for further advice and support.
Below are some links to some ideas of things you can do with your child to help them develop their emotional resilience and manage their worries. These are not exhaustive and there are lots of ideas online. Young minds have been government funded to provide support and advice to children and their families.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/anxiety-in-children
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/talking-to-children-about-feelings
https://perfectionpending.net/20-fun-activities-to-help-kids-with-anxiety
Challenging Behaviour
Children behave in ways that are challenging for their parents / carers for a number of different reasons. It is their way of telling us something is not right. When they are young or do not have the verbal, social or emotional communication skills to tell us what that is, and this means things can escalate very quickly. How we, as adults, respond to this behaviour is the overriding factor as children use us as the benchmark for how to behave. Sometimes, try as we might, we don’t know the reason and we don’t know how to manage in the midst of a situation and all that is ok.
Below is a link to The Challenging Behaviour website that have video clips, information leaflets with step-by-step guides on how to manage behaviour for children of all needs and all ages. To make a behaviour change takes time and consistently there is no quick fix, but the advice below can help to give you back the control if you feel like you struggling. There is also a link to the NHS site for advice for younger children.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/dealing-with-difficult-behaviour
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/dealing-with-angry-child
Some behaviour that we see might be related to sensory difficulties as well. As a parent there are a lot of activities you can do that are play based and wont adversely affect your child. Below are links that give activity ideas and advice that may help your child in certain situations. If you continue to struggle with any of the above, go to your GP or your consultant.
https://hes-extraordinary.com/category/sensory-activities
Below is a video that is about an hour long created by an occupational therapist with experience in sensory integration therapy. In the video she gives some really good ideas about what you can try with your child at home. Remember things don’t happen overnight and it might be that your child needs time to get used to new pieces of equipment or techniques. One of the best ways to get a child interested in something is to have a go yourself!! This is the most effective way children feel safe to try new things when their closest adults show them that it’s fun and safe.
Play is often the best way to help children to manage their emotions and also helps with distraction. Playing at a level younger than they are can also provide some stability and safety when they are most distressed.
Below is a link to advise on toys that might be helpful and how to use different toys with different children.
ThinkNinja is designed for children and young people (10-18 years old) to help educate about mental health and emotional wellbeing. ThinkNinja also helps children and young people learn and develop a range of skills for when they are experiencing daily life stresses or who maybe feeling anxious. ThinkNinja was created by child mental health psychologist experts with help from young people to make sure the content, skills and how we talk about mental health and mood are just right and fun to use.
You can download the app from the following link:
