Can a parent refer a child or young person for assessment and treatment?
Yes parents can refer their child direct.
Do you have a waiting list?
Some of our services have a waiting list. The team at Starjumpz will inform you of this when you contact us.
What happens when you first contact Starjumpz?
You can contact Starjumpz via info@starjumpz.com or call us on 01892 660085 in order to speak to one of our staff about your child’s difficulties. They will talk you through our services and give you an idea of the approaches that might help your child based on the information you have given.
It is then advisable to book an appointment either for a consultation or for an assessment so that we can meet you and your child, assess their difficulties to determine how best to address them.
If you want to talk to another parent about their experiences at Starjumpz, we would be very happy to arrange this.
See your child’s journey with Starjumpz at the end of the FAQs for more information about what happens next.
Assessments
Do you do medico-legal assessments?
Yes we have therapists experienced in this field of work
Do you assess for Statement of Educational Needs?
Yes we have therapists experienced in these assessments
My child has recently been assessed can we still come for treatment?
Yes as long as you can bring your assessment reports from which we can devise a treatment plan following our own clinical observations.
How soon can my child be re-assessed using a standardised test?
Given that some formal assessments with standardised scores should not be repeated within six months, it is important to know of any prior assessment that has taken place.
How quickly will I have the assessment report?
Our assessment reports are detailed and take considerable time to evaluate and complete. We aim to have them completed within four weeks, although during public holiday periods this may be longer.
For some children it is best to see them over the course of a few appointments in order to get the best evaluation of their needs before compiling a report.
What is your cancellation policy?
We require a minimum of 24 hours notice for cancellation, if an appointment is cancelled within 24 hours the cost of the appointment will be charged.
If an appointment is cancelled with less than 7 days’ notice a cancellation fee of £20 will be charged unless we are able to rebook the appointment.
Cancellations of assessments and consultations with less than 7 days’ notice will incur a cancellation fee of £200 unless we are able to rebook the appointment.
All bookings for assessments and consultations will incur a non-refundable booking fee of £50.
We ask that as much notice as possible is given if you need to rearrange an appointment.
Can I access your services for free?
We regret that we cannot offer this at present as we as we are a private business and require fees in order to operate. We are constantly exploring ways we can help more people access help through workshops, trainings, group work and via charity fundraising.
Is there any financial help available to enable me to access services?
We are collaborating with SPACE a local charity and some local parents to raise funds for supporting children who need financial help to access services.
You may qualify for a disability allowance which could help cover treatment costs.
Can a child or young person be seen by NHS Therapists in addition to Independent Therapists?
Yes, often due to resources the NHS Therapy input may be limited. We aim to work with the NHS or local Authority Therapists as closely as possible to facilitate the best possible outcome from intervention.
Can I become involved in fund raising to support wider access to therapy support?
Please email us if you are interested in becoming involved in this.
Are you looking for other specialists who can offer complimentary services?
We are constantly seeking to connect with complimentary services and to work in collaboration with those who work with a similar ethos to our own, empowering children, their families and communities.
If you, or someone you know is interested in working with us please contact us.
What happens when I have booked an appointment?
Your child’s journey with Starjumpz
Having made an appointment, you and your child will be seen by one of the professionals in the Starjumpz team. Before you come in you will need to record all the issues you feel your child has including specific examples and any observations from yourself, other family members of friends. You will need to think about how your child behaves, how they communicate and socialise, their physical capabilities as well as any difficulties you perceive or know about at nursery or school. Taking a look at the checklists available on this website will help you.
Before your appointment we ask you to complete questionnaires which will be specific to your appointment. This may also include teacher questionnaires.
A consultation with a Starjumpz professional to establish how best we can help your child would take an hour and the and may not involve your child attending in order to be able to have a full discussion of all the issues.
During your first assessment appointment we will discuss the information you have brought in and will assess your child using a variety of different assessment tools as appropriate. This may include assessment of your child whilst moving, working at a desk, through conversation and observation when given instructions.
This first consultation and assessment may take up to 2-3 hours after which we will synthesise all the information we have and write up a report. It may be necessary for you and your child to meet with other therapists eg Speech and Language Therapy, Physiotherapy, Behavioural Therapy, Nutritional Therapy, Paediatrician, Audio Vestibular Consultant, Neurofeedback Practitionner (as well as Occupational therapy), in order to gain a more comprehensive view of their strengths and difficulties.
On receipt of your initial assessment report you will be invited to return to the centre to discuss the findings and recommendations and put together a therapy plan that both meets your child’s needs and is workable given your family situation.
Generally speaking depending on the child’s difficulties we would normally recommend a block of sessions in our centre where the child would receive direct one on one treatment for a minimum of 50 minutes once or twice a week.
Sessions with Speech and Language and Physiotherapy can be arranged and integrated into the child’s progamme. We will also give you a plan to follow at home and can visit your child’s school to discuss how to best implement our recommendations in the school environment.
We will organise a follow up meeting after an agreed number of therapy sessions to assess progress and fine tune your child’s programme according to their needs. Further therapy sessions will be discussed and agreed as appropriate. Whilst it is difficult to say at the outset how many hour sessions an individual child might need we generally would recommend a minimum of 12-15 in order to see tangible improvement.
You may find your child requires top up sessions at a later date once they have finished their initial block of treatment. We are always happy to speak to you about any concerns and will guide you in the most appropriate course of action.
Many of our clients stay in contact with us for some months or years just to keep us up to date with progress. We are always interested to hear how our children are progressing, how they have overcome their initial difficulties, what new skills they have mastered and how they are getting on in general.
We look forward to being of service to you and in helping your child overcome their challenges and realise their true potential.
