How is your child doing?

What this check is actually looking at

Most parents arrive here with one worry. Reading, or talking, or sitting still. The check deliberately asks about ten areas instead, because the area you are worried about is often not the area causing the trouble.

A child who will not sit still for homework may have an attention difficulty. Or they may be a strong reader who finds the work far too easy, or a weak reader who has learned that the desk is where they feel stupid. The behaviour looks identical from the kitchen table. What separates them is the pattern across everything else, which is why we ask about all ten.

The ten areas

• Communication and languageUnderstanding what is said, finding words, being understood by people outside the family. In younger children this is the area that most often shows up first. Speech and language guide
• Social and playJoining in, reading other children, managing change, shared attention. Difficulty here is not the same thing as shyness. Autism guide
• Movement and coordinationBalance, running and climbing, and the fine control needed for buttons, cutlery, scissors and pencils.
• Everyday independenceDressing, eating, toileting, sleeping, managing their own things. A quiet but honest measure of how much scaffolding a child still needs.
• Emotions and wellbeingMeltdowns, worry, mood, confidence, how they talk about themselves. This one matters enormously and gets asked about least.
• Attention and organisationHolding focus, finishing what they start, remembering instructions, keeping track of belongings. ADHD and focus guide
• Reading and spellingLetter sounds, blending, reading accuracy and stamina, spelling that stays unpredictable. Dyslexia guide
• Numbers and mathsSense of quantity, number facts, place value, telling time, handling money. Dyscalculia guide
• Writing and handwritingGrip, letter formation, speed, and the gap between what a child can say and what they can get onto paper. Dysgraphia guide
• Pace and rememberingHow long new learning takes to stick, and whether it is still there next week. Own-pace learning guide

Why we ask for your child's age first

Because almost nothing on this page means anything without it. A four year old who mixes up b and d is doing exactly what four year olds do. A nine year old doing the same thing is telling you something. Not reading at five is unremarkable in Malaysia, where children start formal reading at different points depending on the school system. Not reading at eight is worth attention.

The check uses five age bands, and the questions change completely between them. For children under six the prompts follow the milestone approach used in the CDC's publicly available "Learn the Signs. Act Early." materials, which ask what most children that age can do rather than what a struggling child cannot. From six upwards the questions shift to how often something happens, because by then the useful signal is frequency rather than presence.

The three questions that matter most

At the end of the check we ask three things that feel almost too simple. They are there because they are close to what a professional weighs before considering any formal assessment.

1. How long has it been going on? Six months is the rough line. Below that, ordinary life explains most things. A new sibling, a move, a bad term, a difficult teacher.
2. Does it happen in more than one place? A difficulty that appears only at school, or only at home, usually points to something about that setting. A difficulty that travels with the child is different.
3. Is it actually causing difficulty? This is the one people skip. A child can tick a great many boxes and still be happy, learning and getting on fine. If nothing is being lost, there may be nothing to fix.

All three need to be true before a pattern is worth taking further. One on its own rarely means much.

Things that look like a learning difficulty and usually are not

What to do with your result

The result is not a diagnosis and gives no score, deliberately. It sorts the ten areas into what looks fine and what might be worth a closer look, and that is as far as any parent questionnaire can honestly go. Only a qualified professional can diagnose, and they do it with direct assessment of your child, not a form.

If something comes back as worth a closer look, the sensible next step is usually not an expensive private assessment. It is a conversation with your child's teacher about whether they see the same thing, a hearing and vision check, and then a proper look at whether targeted help changes anything over a term. If it does, you may not need anything further. If it does not, that itself is useful evidence to bring to a paediatrician or psychologist.

We are happy to be the first of those conversations, and to say plainly if we think you need someone other than us.

Common questions