Healthy Kindy Kids information for parents
Free vision, hearing, and speech and language screening for children in Queensland kindergartens.
Free kindy health checks
If your child’s kindy has the approved kindy tick, they can get free vision, hearing, and speech and language screening at kindy. It’s called a Healthy Kindy Kids check.
The Healthy Kindy Kids check helps us find any issues early. It’ll help set your child up for a strong and confident start to school.
If you want your child to have the health check, we'll:
- take a picture of their eyes using a screening device that’s a bit like a camera
- play a hearing game with them using headphones and a tablet
- play a language game with them using a tablet to see how they use words and sentences.
We do the check at kindy to make them more convenient for you and your child. If we identify any concerns, we can connect you and your child to the right advice and services. Our team are all trained screeners working with a senior health professional. They’ll either:
- have a blue card (Queensland's Working with Children Check)
- be registered members with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra).
Healthy Kindy Kids is rolling out across Queensland and will be offered to every kindy by the end of 2027. Your local Healthy Kindy Kids team will contact your child's kindy when the program starts in your area.
Before the Healthy Kindy Kids check
Your child's kindy will let you know the dates we’re coming a few weeks before we do the health checks. We’ll usually be at your kindy for a few days to make sure we can see as many children as possible.
You’ll get:
- information about the screenings
- a consent form to sign
- a parent and caregiver questionnaire to fill in.
The parent and caregiver questionnaire helps us understand how your child is developing for their age.
If you or your child need an interpreter, we can organise one for free.
If your child isn’t able to be there on the dates we’re coming, they can still get a 4 to 5 year health check at your local child and family health service or with your GP.
How we do each screening
You don't need to be at the screening, but you can if you’d like to. Just let your child’s kindy know if you’d like to attend. One of the educators at kindy will help your child through the activities if you’re not there.
The activities will be built into your child’s normal kindy day. We’ll work around what works best for your child. That sometimes means we’ll do the 3 screenings at different times throughout the day.
The screenings are a quick and fun way to check their vision, hearing, and speech and language development, but it won't give a detailed assessment or diagnosis.
If your child gets any refer results, we'll tell you how you can access services in your area. A refer result doesn't always mean there’s a problem, but it may be helpful to do more checks.
Vision screening
We'll take a picture of your child's eye, using a device that's a bit like a camera. It will take some measurements of your child's eyes to check for anything that’s out of the normal range for their age.
The results will either be pass or refer. For refer results, we'll recommend taking your child to see an eye health professional (optometrist). Our team will tell you how to access these services in your area.
Your child’s eyes will be checked again at school as part of the prep vision screening program. Their eyes will keep developing until they’re adults so it’s good to get them checked regularly.
Hearing screening
Your child will do the hearing screening on a digital tablet while wearing headphones. It's a fun game that checks their hearing in each ear.
You'll get a pass or refer result for each ear. For refer results, we'll recommend a second hearing screen at another time because sometimes:
- it's noisy in the room when we do the screening
- your child might have a blocked ear after a having cold or other illness.
We’ll tell you where you can get the second screening done. If you get a refer result in either or both ears after the second screening, we recommend seeing an ear health specialist (audiologist).
Language screening
The language screening is done on a digital tablet. It's designed to see how well your child understands and uses words, sentences and instructions.
The results will either be no concern or we'll:
- provide advice – we'll give you and your kindy suggestions to help their language development
- refer - we'll recommend taking your child for further assessments and our team will tell you where you can get these done.
Getting your child's results
You’ll get a summary of your child’s results following the checks.
If there is anything we’re concerned about, we’ll support you with the next steps which may include:
- further checks or screening
- support from your GP or other community health professionals
- referrals to specialist services
- Most of the time we’re able to refer you to free services.
It's important to remember that screening:
- isn't always 100% accurate
- sometimes misses a problem or may be a false alarm
- is a snapshot at one point in time — changes can happen after the screening.
If you're worried about your child's vision, hearing or speech and language at any time, talk to your GP or child and family health nurse.
Other health checks
As well as having a Healthy Kindy Kids check, all children should get regular health and development checks with a GP or child health nurse. The 4 to 5 year old check in the red book looks more closely at your child’s overall growth and development. It’s still important to do the 4 to 5 year old check with your child and family health nurse or GP. Learn more about routine health checks for children on the Pregnancy, Birth and Baby website.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children can also get a free 715 health check every year. Learn more about 715 health checks on the Australian government website.