Early Years: Birth to Five
Speech delays, difficulty settling into a routine, or limited interest in playing with other children can be part of ordinary development at this age, and most resolve without intervention. A pattern worth raising with a child psychologist is one that persists past the age where most children have caught up, such as a two-year-old with no recognisable words or a four-year-old who consistently avoids eye contact and shared play. The Valens Clinic‘s child psychology team assesses children from birth through age eighteen. That range includes this early stage directly.
Primary School Age: Six to Eleven
Primary school age is when a struggle commonly becomes visible outside the home, through a teacher’s note about attention, a drop in reading progress, or a child who avoids school on certain mornings. A single difficult term rarely needs a formal evaluation. A pattern repeated across several terms, confirmed by more than one teacher, or paired with a change in mood at home, is a stronger signal worth acting on.
Adolescence: Twelve to Eighteen
Mood swings, more time spent alone, and friction over independence are common through adolescence and don’t automatically point to a problem. What separates a difficult phase from something worth assessing is scale: a drop in grades that doesn’t recover, a withdrawal from friends and activities a teenager used to enjoy, or a mood change that lasts for weeks rather than days. A child psychologist can assess for anxiety, depression, ADHD, or a developmental condition first identified in the teenage years, since some presentations only become clear once academic and social demands increase.
Who Usually Makes the Referral
A referral can come from a few directions: a school flagging a concern after repeated observation, a paediatrician noticing a developmental delay at a routine check-up, or a parent booking directly because of something noticed at home. None of these routes is more valid than the others, and a parent doesn’t need a school or doctor’s referral to book a first consultation directly with a child psychologist.
What an Assessment Adds Beyond Watching and Waiting
The Valens Clinic’s child psychology service covers psycho-educational assessment, and evaluation for ADHD, autism spectrum presentations, and giftedness, alongside ongoing therapy. An assessment gives parents a clear answer rather than an ongoing guess, and a written report that a school or a paediatrician can act on directly. A wait-and-see approach is reasonable for something mild and recent; a pattern lasting months, or affecting school or friendships, usually benefits from an evaluation instead of more time.
Next Step
Parents unsure whether a pattern is worth a formal look can contact The Valens Clinic’s child psychology team directly, including through the Young Valens location, to talk through what they’re seeing before deciding whether an assessment makes sense.