No diagnosis yet.
Can we still come?

The short answer

You can visit us, talk with us and have your child assessed without any diagnosis. To use the service regularly, your child needs the certificate from your ward — and the certificate does not require a diagnosis either. In our experience, almost every family who applies receives it.

What the certificate needs instead

The ward needs to see that support would help your child. A doctor's opinion letter (意見書), a health-check record with a recommendation, or a referral from the ward's child development support centre usually serves. None of these is a diagnosis. Your ward office tells you at the first consultation exactly which document they want; in Shinjuku the counter is the Disability Welfare Division, Support Section (03-5273-4583). A disability handbook is not required.

What a diagnosis does and does not change

• It does not change whether your child can attend child development support, or the fees.
• It does not decide school placement — the ward's school-entry consultation looks at the child as a whole, with you.
• It can help later for some things (certain handbooks, some school arrangements, understanding your child) — and a diagnosis can be sought at any time from a paediatric or child-psychiatry clinic. Support does not have to wait for it.

Where to get an assessment

Two public routes in Shinjuku: the ward's child development support centre "Aiai" (03-6273-8701) for developmental consultation and assessment, and the four public health centres for the infant health checks and consultations. Other wards have the same. At our classroom, speech-language therapists assess your child's communication, and the Tanaka-Binet intelligence test is available; a diagnosis itself is made only by a doctor.

The grey zone is who this is for

"Grey zone" (グレーゾーン) is the everyday word for children who show some characteristics but do not have — or do not meet the criteria for — a diagnosis. Child development support was designed for exactly this: for support to start when it would help, not when a label is ready. Many of the children at our classroom have no diagnosis. If you are noticing something, that is reason enough to visit.