DlA reduced to Lower Rate.

covlass

Update
I have tribunal date 18th March !!!!
Recieved submission papers they made very intresting reading to say the least.

several decision makers sent file to DWP Dr's asking about servere mental impairment 3 different Dr's said no.

One person from DLA made the following quote".....child throws a paddy"
mmmmmmmm not words I would use this made me very angry and upset & highlighted the fact that these people have no idea aout how autism effects children in my eyes.

I have been to law center who said this is just a complete joke as one min they are saying yes to arrested brain deveolpment then they say no. They agreed at the start that my daughter has servere learning difficulties then they said err no!!

Throught out this which has now been going on for over a year they never onec contacted my daughters specialist or our GP. They did say that they requested information from the school and were waiting yet when I phoned the school the head wa quite angey as they had not recieved anything. Still after months of delibarating over my daughters claim they still did not request any medicle evidence and relied on their Dr's.

I myself then collected a letter from the school and my daughters specialst still they said no as they didnot belive she had servere learning difficulties. All this dispite the fact that she attend a school for children with servere learning difficulties and complexed needs. I ent a long detailed letter quoting their giudelines with supporting eveidence still "No".

I spoke to my daughters specialist yest who was not impressed and quite annoyed that they relied on their Dr's so she is writting a long letter and aking what qualifications their Dr' have on my daughters medicle health issues that enabled them to make a judgement without even seeing my daughter.

I also wrote to my local MP, not asking for help but just highlighting the facts and asking why we are asked to list Dr's/specialsits etc on the forms if the DLA are not going to request information from them. Surley that if they did this would cut down the number of people who have to go to tribunal and in the long run save money. Aslo does he not think that parents of children with disabilities have more than enough to cope with without having to fight every step of the way and if my daughter is having this trouble now what chance does she have when I am no longer here to fight for her.
I got a very nice reply from him saying that he has requested a full explination about the handling of my daughters case.

Rant over

munchings-n-crunchings

Hello covlass,

I can't remember how old your daughter is.

If there seems to be doubt or dispute about learning difficulties or severity of them, have you had an assessment done.
I would have thought this is something that school could have easily done for you.

Normally it would be done through Education Psychology if your child is in a state school. In my case, as my daughter was in an independent school it was done through the Clinical Psychology department of CAMHS-Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service.

They used a test called the WISC 3 test. Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Third Edition UK (WISC-III UK).
This test is for children aged 6 years to 16 years 11 months.



You only have 2 weeks, but I would speak to school and express the urgency in having some detailed evidence on her intellectual functioning.


Good Luck



Munchie

covlass

Thanks Munchie

I spoke to the head of the school who is writting a letter and putting together all of sophies IP levels. My daughter is 12 so at a secondary school she has a statement of educational needs which has already been sent to DLA.
I will give school a call about the above thankyou

munchings-n-crunchings

Hi covlass,

You will need to make sure that the head presents the information in a manner that makes your daughters intellectual functioning clear.

Here is the wording of part of my son's report summary.
X’s overall IQ profile places him around the 4th or 5th percentile indicating 95% of children would perform better than him at his age. His profile places him close to the borderline indicating mild learning difficulties. However, his sub-test profile reveals a pattern of significant strengths and deficits common in the presentation of children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders. Whilst some of X’s skills are average or low average, some aspects of his intellectual functioning are significantly below average for his chronological age. His particular areas of weakness are in vocabulary, his scaled score of 3 gives him an age level of 9 years 6 months, and his comprehension scaled score of 1 places him at 7 years 2 months.
Therefore aspects of X’s understanding and use of words are significantly below his age of 16 years and 6 months, operating at an age level of between 7 and 9 years.


The presentation of information makes it clear how a person performs, in comparison to others of the same age.



Regards


Munchie

covlass

WE won!!!
Was in and out within 10 minutes, it has been awarded until she is 16.

I thought I would add the ffollowing as it may be of help to someone:

Here is what was quoted in a reply to a letter I wrote prior to tribunal, this is direct from Pension, disability & carers service a part of DWP

"It may help if I explainthat DLA is paid as a contribution towards the extra costs of severly disabled people. To help focus the benfit on people who are likely to have the highest disability-related extra costs, entitlement to the benefit is based on the effects of disability rather than on specific disabilities or medicle conditions. Hence, the car component of DLA is a vailable to mentally or physically disabled people who are so severely disabled that they require personal care, supervision or watching over by another person. Simialry, the DLA lower rate mobility component is available to mentally or physically disabled people who require guidence or supervision from another person in order to avoid substantial danger to themselves or others when walking out of doors on unfamiliar routes. The DLA highre rate mobility component on the other hand is primarily focused on people who are physically unable, or virtually unable, to walk because they are likely to have significant disabillity-related extra costs.

The severe mental impairment provision was designed to provide additional help for people who have considerable disadvantage of being so severley disabled rlaitively early in life and who may face restricted opportunities to work and save. It was specifically introduced to help those who have congenitally arrested or incomplete development of the brain, in recognition of the extreme and exceptional nature of thier condition. This group of severely disabled people will be disadvantage throughout their lives, whereas, in many cases, those with degenerative diseases of the brain such as Picks disease will have previously had fulfilling lives with oppertunities to work, earn and save.

The term 'severe mantal impairment' means very limited intelligence and impaired socail functioning, so that the person in unlikely ever to acquire more than the most basic life skills such as washing, feeding, using toilet-many will not achieve even this level. The servere behavioural problems include, requent and extreme displays of aggression, destructiveness, hyperactivity or self-inury, but make take other forms. Foe a person to qualify under this provision the pattern of behaviour must be such as that some one must always be on hand to intervene at any time.

The lower rate of mobility component was designed to help people who are able to walk, but who have severe disability which means they cannot walk about out of doors on unfamiliar routes unless they are guded or supervised by someone else"

space_rider

Well done covlass!

cher31e

fantastic,
well done

jmabnc

Welldone,at least someone has got it right,bet you feel better, We are waiting for a date,really worried now,but we will fight for our daughter we know her needs , I feel for people in the same boat,fighting DLA is awful,good luck to everyone,I hope more people will be luckly in their fight.....