Help with filling out DLA form

sjc3

angelicmary85 wrote: »

I don't want anyone to think I'm just after the money, I want him to get it so we can put it into his bank account to help him out in the future so I want to apply when we've got the best chance of success.

Nobody will think that. My friend needed to claim dla for her son. He has a different condition to your child. Her health visitor helped her. They rang and asked for the paper form to be sent to them. If the claim is awarded payments are backdated to when the form is sent to you. Her health visitor helped her fill the form out and wrote a statement confirming the childs problems.

The form does state that they understand how difficult it is to give full information. If any questions dont relate to your child yet due to his age dont leave them blank. Just state somthing like "child is only 10 weeks old so not communicating/mobile yet. Due to having downs syndrome this could prove difficult for him in the future". They will have had plenty of experience of all of this before and know that your child will require help.

Good luck with your claim. I would put it in as soon as possible.

kingfisherblue

harry7075 wrote: »

I'll put my neck on the line now, talking to the threads author, but as soon as you put down your little uns condition he should qualify for care and I believe at 4 a rate of the mobility rate. Been a few years since I saw a claim form but it must surely say what condition/illness do you suffer from.

Hope it goes well and the young lad gets what he deserves.

The form does have a section for you to write the name of the condition - incidentally, children with DS don't suffer from it, they merely have the condition.

DLA is not awarded for a condition or disability, though. It is awarded for care and/or mobility needs. All young children need a lot of care. When you have a disabled child, you need to explain the additional care needs, compared to a child of the same age.

My son, now twelve, has DS. As a baby, his additional care needs included lengthy feeding times, waking him up to finish a feed, tube feeding him when he couldn't finish a feed orally, giving him medicine (including asthma inhalers), chest physiotherapy, physiotherapy on his hands, dealing with severe choking episodes, dealing with frequent vomiting due to reflux. My son was born with other disabilities as well as the DS, though.

According to the Down's Syndrome Association, there are many children turned down for DLA on first application. When my son was a toddler, I think the figure was about two thirds. in some cases, this was because the children didn't have any additional needs as a baby, but others were turned down because parents didn't fill in the forms with as much detail as popssible.

The care component is awarded at low, middle or high rate, depending on the level of care needed during the day and/or night.

Mobility is awarded from the age of three for higher rate, and from the age of five for lower rate. A blue badge can be awarded from the age of two (or for those needing to carry heavy medical equipment such as oxygen, from birth).

For both care and mobility components, the child has to have needed the additional help for at least three months and will need it for at least a further six months. It has been suggested that these timescales will increase when the new rules for DLA come into force from 2013, but I don't know how accurate that is.

harry7075

Kingfisherblue. Yes I know Down Syndrome is regarded as a condition hence I put and I quote.

"Been a few years since I saw a claim form but it must surely say what condition/illness do you suffer from."

kingfisherblue

My point is that it doesn't matter what the medical condition is, you can only receive DLA if there are care and/or mobility needs arising as a result of having that condition. Not all medical conditions require additional help. In your previous post, you stated that 'he should qualify for care' - not necessarily.

I hope that I have made that clearer.

Hastobe_Katt

"don't suffer from it, they merely have the condition"

Obviously, it depends on the particular condition but that is pure 'PC' bull. Trust me, if you have many of these conditions you suffer - by God do you suffer! I would very much like just to 'have' my condition and pass the 'suffering' bit to some other poor sod.

harry7075

Kingfisher you seem a bit up yourself!

harry7075

angelicmary you probably know this site http://www.downs-syndrome.org.uk/faqs/benefits.html

but it'll make things clearer. Good Luck.

kingfisherblue

harry7075 wrote: »

Kingfisher you seem a bit up yourself!

Not at all, Harry. I'm just pointing out that having a medical condition is not an entitlement to receiving DLA, whereas you seemed to imply that it is. Apologies if you don't like the way in which I phrase my replies to posts

Regarding suffering, Hastobe_Katt, yes, it does depend on the particular condition. I agree that many people suffer, but having DS does not always mean that the person with it suffers (and it was DS that was being referred to). My son doesn't suffer as a result of his DS - he has a good quality of life.

harry7075

Do you receive DLA for your son?

kingfisherblue

harry7075 wrote: »

Do you receive DLA for your son?

I think that the above question is directed at me - if not, I apologise. Yes, I receive high rate care and mobility. In addition to DS, my son was born with a number of rare conditions that required surgery at birth. These have left him with additional needs that are not directly related to DS.