DSA time scales

kazzieg

Has anybody got any ideas how long DSA takes to go through from student finance Wales. My son has had his finance sorted but the letters we received back at the start of may mentioned we would be receiving a letter soon regarding dsa. My son called them last week and the said a letter would be sent but did not give him any more details. Just concerned that provisions may not be able to be sorted before September

Any information is appreciated

frugalsmurf

I'm not in Wales, but wanted to give you my experience in case it helps.

Has he been for the dsa appointment yet?

I applied really early as I was advised to. I got a letter conforming I needed to book an appointment within 2-3 weeks of posting my form off.

After the appointment, I then got a letter confirming what I'd get . That took about 2-3weeks after the appointment. Then the equipment was arranged to be delivered about a few weeks after.

They said to me that they aim to get equipment delivered before September.

Hope this helps.

Maggie

We are in England, my son is dyslexic with some dyspraxia ( diagnosed in Year 13 - interesting times, learned a lot very quickly) . He went for his assessment in July last year, seemed to take ages to get the report . He didn't get the package in place at the beginning of term.It was a bit of a nightmare as all of the University's loan laptops were out by the time he went to ask for one.
Lesson 1 if you don't get the equipment before he goes to Uni, ask for a loan laptop as soon as you get to uni- or better email before hand to inquire about it) We had to make a special journey up there ( 3 hours each way) to take my laptop to him so he had something to work on. Because we had seen the learning support people at visits earlier, they put learning support into place, but I think they went on the letter he had received saying it would happen.
Lesson 2 chase them now, and if you have an old laptop ( or any laptop) take it with him ,if he hasn't had the equipment when he goes to freshers week. We also brought a dictaphone when he was first diagnosed to record lessons as he struggled with note taking at that level, and he had it to record lectures initially. Ours was in the Argos sale and came with a version of Dragon naturally speaking which made transcription easier.Teachers/lecturers were fine about it.
Lesson 3 I would say that the company my son got his kit from are not good with support when anything goes wrong. You need to be on their case. On the second occasion he had a problem, I rang up and read the riot act ( after no action for nearly 2 weeks) - my son was angry but he admitted that they did sit up when I blasted them about poor customer service . PM me if you want to know which company.
Lesson 4 - make sure that any forms the uni need for extra time in exams or extra time for assessments are filled out early in the year. My son's university want all forms filled in by early November. Don't let settling in mean it gets overlooked.
Lesson 5 - book in weekly support sessions ASAP they get very booked up early in the academic year and before exams. They were brilliant in helping him settle and structure his learning and meeting deadlines.

Not a lesson , but if you can afford it , buy a separate screen to leave on his desk . He bought a 21 or 24 inch screen which uses his laptop as the CPU and he finds it much better. The laptop provided is a workhorse and the 15 screen is fine for lectures but for essay writing etc a second screen is fantastic help. He can have the references open on the small screen and see what he is typing on another.
Hope this helps and good luck.