Ages and Stages Questionnaires (ASQs) help you and our staff understand how your child is developing, they are just one of the tools we may use during our contact with you – but of course most important of all is what you tell us about your child.

The ASQs are not a measure of how well your child is or isn’t doing, as we know all children develop differently. They are something that we use together to talk about the things your child does easily, to think about any concerns you might have and how we can support you and your child with those. They are split into 5 different areas;

Communication: Your child’s language skills, both what your child understands and what he or she can say – this can be sounds, babbling or talking.

Gross Motor: How your child uses their arms and legs for sitting, crawling, walking, running, and other activities.

Fine Motor: How your child uses their hands and fingers – for example scribbling or picking up food.

Problem Solving: How your child plays with toys and solves problems.

Personal-Social: Your child’s self-help skills and how they play and interact with others.

The ASQ that is used is based on the age of your child, but we may decide together that this is not right for your child and decide to use a different age or an alternative assessment tool – this is nothing to worry about – we are just making sure we use the right tool for your child.

Health visiting and school nursing are part of our 0 to 19 Torbay team who focus on the health and development of your child. We will get in touch to review your child’s development at the following key stages:

• At 6-8 weeks
• 9-12 months
• 2.3 years

You can contact the 0 to 19 Torbay team by calling our advice line on 0300 333 5352 or emailing publichealthnursing.torbay@nhs.net. Our opening hours are 9am-5pm Monday-Friday (excluding bank holidays).

Watch this great TED Talk from Molly Wright: How every child can thrive by five