claiming DLA?

iammumtoone

I have made the decision to attempt to claim DLA for my child.

I will be out of a job at the end of the month. I am mainly doing this now in the hope that by claiming it the JC will have to be more understanding in my need to work school hours due to my caring responsibilities. I will not lie the money would also come in handy (I didn't need it before with working). as my son does cost more than the 'average' child.

This is going to be my diary where to ask questions and a place for others going through this to ask as well, between us hopefully we can help each other.

I do not expect to get anything but if you don't try you never know. The main issue I have is whilst my son is difficult at home he is an angel at the school. I am well aware of the fact the DWP will take the schools word over mind (and can understand why they have to do this - it is just frustrating as I am not lying and the health professionals tell me this can happen children hold it all in at school making the frustrations worse when they get home to their 'safe' place) I appreciate there have to be these rules otherwise all parents could 'claim' their child was difficult and get DLA without no checks.

iammumtoone

I have received the (long) form. I am pleased that I have six weeks to return it. This allows me to take my time.

I have had a quick flick through my first questions are as below (they will be many more )

1) Does he have an IEP?
How do I answer
He is on the SEN register has been every since he started in reception when he had an IEP for the first two years. The school then stopped doing them, they replaced it with a system child led where the child has to tell of their difficulties. of course my child being very intelligent doesn't actually tell them of his problems he encounters (as I said he does anything he can to get through the school day as an 'average' child and does not want to be picked out as 'different')
Does this mean I have to answer he doesn't have an IEP - there is nowhere to list that the reason for this is the school stopped doing them.

2) questions about how often they need help with appearance

(this is embarrassing)
He needs help/lots of encouragement with brushing his teeth once a day. This is because he only brushes his teeth once a day reason being we just do not have the time or me the energy with the other struggles in he morning to get him to do it. By putting down 1 am I implying that he only needs help 50% of the time as he should clean his teeth twice a day. There is no space to point out it is 100% of the time as he only cleans them once a day.

Same with having a bath he only has a bath 3-4 times a week due to the same issue, it takes a long time to get through a bath he needs helps/encouragement 100% of the time with this.

NeilCr

Personally, I'd try and get help from someone like CAB to complete this form

In terms of what you have asked you need to be thinking how you use the spaces for comments

So - as he doesn't have an IEP that's what you tick. At the end of the form there is a sheet for additional comments. You add what you have written here there. Might be worth annotating by the IEP box "see notes at end"

Washing and cleaning his teeth. You say how many times he does these things. In the notes below you say something along the lines of " because of "his condition whatever that is" he can only be persuaded to clean his teeth once a day and bath three to four times a week. On all occasions he has to be helped/encouraged/whatever to do it"

In my experience one of the biggest failings with DLA/PIP form completion is the failure to use comments properly

I'd say again, though, get help. Face to face discussion with someone who knows about form completion is the best way to go

pmlindyloo

This is a useful guide and also gives a link for help with completing the form:

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/disability-living-allowance/help-with-your-dla-claim/help-with-dla-form/

poppy12345

I totally agree with getting help to fill that form out from someone that knows what they're doing. They are really complex and unless filled out correctly it may lower the chances of an award, as stupid as that sounds. Also the more evidence you send the better.

I tried applying for DLA for my daughter about 5 years ago. Problems in life much greater than a child of the same age at the time. She also showed no problems with behaviour or anything else in school, or so i was told -.- She did have an IEP when she was in primary school and also attended the special needs department in our local secondary school. I sent the form off along with my evidence which wasn't much at the time, but i included a diary that i did. Several weeks later i got a letter of refusal. They obviously contacted her school who never did acknowledge she had any issues other than her memory problems and that went against her. Years down the line after fighting with many different Consultants, Drs and Community Learning disabilities team, i proved her school wrong! She has a learning disability, social anxiety disorder and possible ASD (which we're waiting an assessment for) I'm armed with huge amounts of evidence and have now applied for PIP as she's over 16. So, moral of this story if YOU believe that your son has problems then fight for answers and never give up until you get those answers!
Good luck with that DLA claim!

iammumtoone

Thanks all yes I will use the comment boxes, will have to write small lol.

You are correct the form seems to be designed to just give yes/no alot of the questions are more involved that a simple yes/no.

The school questions I will have to put no to all of them but as I said its not that simple
Go and use the toilet - well yes he does at school fine, what the school don't know is that approx 2-3 days out of the week he comes home soiled (he would never mention this at school, too embarrassed) how do you prove that?
Eat meals - He rarely eats at school, he is clever and will collect his dinner as he should, but not eat it, he doesn't drink at school either. No one notices as in their defense they have 400 pupils to keep an eye on they will be watching the ones causing a fuss. I did mention this to the school so they told me they would put something in place the next day my son came home worse than ever. really upset wrecked his bedroom because the dinner ladies were staring at him all the time he ate grr, why they couldn't just make subtle checks I don't know. Therefore I had to stop the checks
Change into clothes - As far as the school know yes but they don't see/notice that after PE he always comes home with his trousers on but not done up (he can't do buttons/fasteners) on PE days I always send him in with his polo shirt unbuttoned to help him (he would struggle it if it was buttoned to the top) Most PE days he comes out without his jumper (whatever the weather) as he hasn't had time to out it back on.

Should I write the above and include it on a separate bit of paper (there is no comment box suitable for comments "against" the school). Or should I leave it as I don't want to be seen a critising the school this might go against me?

iammumtoone

I will fill the form out an make an appointment with the CAB to check it for me.

Tigsteroonie

Don't worry about the space in the Comments boxes, all you'll need to reference is "See Note to Q4" - and send a separate supplementary document, headed something like "supplementary answers" where you cross reference the answers and give further detail. Most of the questions on our son's DLA were answered that way!

With regards to the toothbrushing, I'd say he needs help twice a day. On one of those occasions, you give up the battle and don't brush at all. On the other, you persevere and get his teeth brushed by helping. The same with baths, if you think they are expecting an 'every day' answer and you would bathe him every day if it wasn't for the battle, then you do have problems every day - you just give up the battle sometimes. edit - Have you tried a three-sided toothbrush? The specialist dentist recommended it for our son on the basis that, if you're only getting a brush in there for a short time, try to cover as much tooth as possible!

I can advise you that more weight is given to professional reports than to parental anecdotes - so any professional support you can reference or send through evidence, do so. Don't worry about overloading the decision maker with documents, the more the merrier, so long as they don't contradict the claim.

Have a read of these documents, I found them very useful:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/medical-guidance-for-dla-decision-makers-child-cases-staff-guide

http://w3.cerebra.org.uk/help-and-information/guides-for-parents/dla-guide/

I also recommend the FB group "DLA for children, advice and support".

iammumtoone

Evidence
I don't have much.
I have the letter confirming he has been diagnosed with ADHA
I have a letter confirming he has been put forward for an assessment of ASD
I have a copy of a report that was done in school by an ADHD specialist

Is that enough?

I did find out an old letter from a class teacher mainly stating about his letter reversals (which are irrelevant to DLA). But there is a bit in there about him not being able to dress himself as quickly as his peers. Should I highlight the relevant part and include this?

I do have a report carried out at my insistence at the school from an Education Psychologoist. It concluded that they are no issues (he spend 1 hour with in in a room just the two of them the Psychologist had his full attention, he was a stranger, so my son was eager to please for an hour with a stranger he would mange fine to give the impression that everything was ok) I was very disappointed as I had requested the Psychologist carried out a classroom assessment without my son knowing he was there because of him - but this didn't happen.
Should I include this report? is it likely the school will sent it anyway?
Anything I can do to explain why this report came up with something different to what I am claiming/he has been diagnosed.

Interesting this report states that after the educational tests my son performs in the top 2% of children his age. I have never had an answer from the school why then does his classroom ability equate to just below average, doesn't that indicate that either they are doing something wrong or there is an issue with him most of the time he is not performing as he should/is capable of.

Tigsteroonie

Just because he performs educationally in the top 2%, doesn't mean that he doesn't have social and behavioural difficulties - as I think you know and experience every day

I'd send everything you have - at least then you know you've done your best. There's no reason why you cannot attach a short note to the Ed Pysch report explaining how the assessment was carried out and potential implications of that.

Don't be disheartened if, after all this, the initial decision isn't what you want. I've seen enough people on FB mention Mandatory Reconsiderations and Tribunals to know that it's a lottery as to whether you get a good decision maker first time round or not.

iammumtoone

I am reading the Psychologist report I don't think I will continue with this route anymore, I doubt it will get anyway, if this report is anything to go by

Report states ADHA/ASD/Dylexia and Dyspraxia have been ruled out! This was not true ruled out by who? The only one that he had been assessed for at the time was Dylexia which had been ruled out - but later the report goes on to state the psychologist thinks he is Dyslexic!

"He was quick to grasp humour and interacted with this by laughing and smiling appropriately, though not taking the topic further or adding to the dialogue"

Yes that's my son very clever but he does not understand humor I know this as I spend a lot of time with him. What he does do is pick up on clues when he should laugh etc which is why he didn't/couldn't carrying on the dialogue as he didn't follow it he just knew that at that point he should laugh.

Report also says hs has friends. Again my son is clever he will not admit to a stranger he doesn't have as many as he would like so he just says yes I have a friend (true he has one friend). Same with the school they keep telling me its not unusual for a child to have one or two close friends. I accept that IF that is what the child wants is happy with but my sons wants to be friends with everyone, due to his social skills this is not possible but the school refuse to see this as he has a friend!

EDIT: thinking about it I shall do as Tigsteroonie suggests and include this report but highlight the sections I want to make comments about and include another sheet of paper with my comments, the ADHA specialist we see will support me on this as she is aware of this report, it was her who told me why this report came out as it did as I questioned her why we got this diagnosis (I was in shock at the time) when this report clearly states no issues.