Dla for child without diagnosis

Mummy2two2015

Hi there I'm looking for some advice. Our dd is 3.8 and doesn't speak, we have a speech and language appointment Friday and are waiting for a pediatrician appointment which should be soon.
Can we claim dla without any diagnosis? My health visitor is adamant we should be claiming....
She wakes continually through the night, has no danger awareness, struggles to communicate, walks tippy toes, feet turn inwards, limited diet, extreme reactions to certain noises.
Our ds has had dla since he was 5 but we had Statement within school, and ongoing input from speech and language and paediatrician and it was over 7 years ago he was diagnosed last August with ASD.
Thank you in advance xx

calcotti

Disability benefits are based on how the claimant is affected by health not on the diagnosis. Obviously, having a diagnosis can help support the case for an award of benefit but it is not a requirement. People with the same diagnosis can, in any case, be impacted differently and it is the impact that would determine whether or not benefit is awarded.

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

poppy12345

You need to show that your daughter needs more care, attention and supervision that a child of the same age who isn't disabled.



Any reports from a health visitor, Consultants will also help.

Mummy2two2015

The health visitor seems to think she does but with already having a son who is on the spectrum it's normal to us but sitting back and looking at it there's many things she does need that others her age don't x

LocoLoco

Mummy2two2015 wrote: »

The health visitor seems to think she does but with already having a son who is on the spectrum it's normal to us but sitting back and looking at it there's many things she does need that others her age don't x

Perhaps ask the HV to go through with you the differences between your D and another child of her age (so you can put the info into the form), and ask her to write a letter to the same effect as well. It's very difficult for parents who don't know any different! I've just got the one son so had no-one else to compare him to and it took me a long time to realise I was doing a lot more than the other mums! We had DLA for several years without a diagnosis and he's on PIP now with some conditions still undiagnosed so it is true that they look at need rather than the name for it. Good luck with it xx

Mummy2two2015

Thank you. I'm going to ask them to help me with the form, you'd think I'd know what I'm doing already having a child with additional needs but that makes it harder as I see what we do as just been a parent and helping your children. When we first claimed dla for DS I was really upset when the forms were filled out as it just confirmed how different he was. With DD I've resigned myself to thinking she may never talk but Im struggling to see how to claim just got lack of speech and the problems that come with limited communication. I'll see what the HV and SALT team say. Thank you x

AG47

We applied got turned down, appealed more than once but still got turned down.

We had loads of proof, medical and HV reports but they still declined our application

Mummy2two2015

Oh that's not good especially when appealed too. I will speak to HV etc before applying as don't want to waste DWPs time etc

LocoLoco

Mummy2two2015 wrote: »

Thank you. I'm going to ask them to help me with the form, you'd think I'd know what I'm doing already having a child with additional needs but that makes it harder as I see what we do as just been a parent and helping your children. When we first claimed dla for DS I was really upset when the forms were filled out as it just confirmed how different he was. With DD I've resigned myself to thinking she may never talk but Im struggling to see how to claim just got lack of speech and the problems that come with limited communication. I'll see what the HV and SALT team say. Thank you x

It is difficult to be objective because, as you say, what you do is perfectly normal for you so it's hard to write down what you do as extra because you don't see it as extra! You could try the National Autistic Society and/or Contact A Family for some guides on claiming for very young children (who all need a lot of care, additional needs or not, which can make it hard to separate things out!) - I've not used either organisation for a long time now but they used to have helpful info so might be worth checking. Cerebra was another one that has helped me in the past as well. Good luck with it, form filling has always been the bane of my life! But a bit of extra help does help so I hope you can get some support with doing it xx