The working foundation for anyone who looks after young children in a clinic, a health centre or a classroom. The course starts with the neuroscience that matters in practice — sensitive periods, risk and protective factors, prematurity, adversity and the neuromyths still taught in schools — and moves to surveillance and screening: what the M-CHAT-R/F, ASQ-3 and SWYC actually measure, why Denver II is not enough on its own, and how to use corrected age. It explains the DSM-5-TR and ICD-11 criteria for autism, ADHD, intellectual disability and learning disorders, and the differential diagnosis every professional must keep in mind, from hearing loss to deprivation and epilepsy. It then covers interventions ranked by evidence and how a team shares the work, and ends with school, family and the care network: individualised education plans, how to communicate a diagnosis, when and where to refer, ethics, and the US laws that protect the child — IDEA, Section 504 and the ADA.