DLA for Son with Hearing Aid ?

Shazand

I applied for DLA for my son who has restricted hearing in his left ear, however I was turned down.:mad:

Over the past two years we have been constantly at either the hospital or hearing clinic, he has also had two major operations as to remove a tumor in his ear. As a result he has to wear a hearing aid. Also he has speech therapy to try and improve his speech.


Both my husband and I work full time, we can't claim any benefits due to earning too much !!

Is there anyone else in a similar situation who gets DLA or can offer any advise on what I did wrong on my first claim ?

TangledMemories_2

Hi,

My best mate has a 2 year old son who has to have hearing aids to enable him to try and join in with everyday life. He receives DLA.

All I can say to you is keep trying. It took us two attempts for my partner to get DLA for his arthritis and my best mate (whose son is deaf) has MS and it has taken her 3 attempts.

When you complete the form, write about his worst situations.

Good luck

glossgal

Hi, sorry to hear of your problems getting DLA.

The main thing to bear in mind, which causes more confusion than anything else, is that it doesn't matter what illness a child has, it's about their care needs compared to other children of that age. You could have a child with a serious illness who actually has less care needs day- to -day than a child with a less serious condition. From what you've said I think the most relevant award for you would be Low Rate Mobility and possilbly Low Rate care if this is the 'only' problem your son has. To qualify for low rate mobility you have to prove he is in danger outdoors alone because of his hearing problem ie can he hear traffic noise? would a child of the same age need help crossing roads anyway?

To qualify for any of the care component you need to be giving him at least an hour a day of extra help because of his hearing. If speech therapy is say once a week for example then this wouldn't qualify, unless he needs help to communicate with people all the time (not sure how old he is as this will effect what is 'normal' and what isn't!)

Obviously this is just a brief outline and your son may well have other issues that would qualify him.

[Deleted User]

they would also take into account if something like a hearing aid works then he wouldnt qualify,as has been said its not the condition that gets DLA but the care/mobility needs

Ani-Mate_67

The only way your son would get the benefit is if he needs at least an hour's help with his bodily functions every day - as already said. How much speech therapy does he get everyday? Does he need 'an interpreter' to enable him to take part in lessons at school? Help to communicate on a one to one basis doesn't count i.e. if you sign to your son and he signs back but if someone has to sign to him for a third party and then speak his signed responses to the third party then that counts.

If you feel that he does need an hour's help then write to DLA and ask them to look at the decision again - you have a month from the date of the decision. Tell them how long the speech therapy takes and how much interpreting he needs. Bear in mind though that his consultant or school may have told them that he needs no additional help (ask to see the evidence used to make the decision - they will send you copies of everything).

scooby1001

Hi you should get in contact with the national deaf childrens society, they have good information. My daughter is hearing impaired with other problems and i applied for dla and was turned down but re applied a couple of years later and sent lots of information with the claim right from the start letters from drs, teacher of the deaf and paeditrition etc and she was awarded mrc for 6 years and I got the award notice 3 weeks after sending the claim in, i think it must have been a record. I think the more evidence you can send in with the claim the higher chance of getting a good result.

mookie

scooby1001 wrote: »

Hi you should get in contact with the national deaf childrens society, they have good information. My daughter is hearing impaired with other problems and i applied for dla and was turned down but re applied a couple of years later and sent lots of information with the claim right from the start letters from drs, teacher of the deaf and paeditrition etc and she was awarded mrc for 6 years and I got the award notice 3 weeks after sending the claim in, i think it must have been a record. I think the more evidence you can send in with the claim the higher chance of getting a good result.

My advice exactly, my daughter was turned down initially and after taking the above steps she was awarded for 2 years, you should call the DWP and ask for a 'revision' of your application, (the NDCS advises not to go straight to appeal as many people get the decision upturned at revision level) they will give you something like 4-6 weeks to provide supporting evidence and then you can start contacting anybody you can who deals with you sons condition asking for a letter to support your claim. Forward it all to them and once they have all your evidence they will look through your claim again.

The NDCS are absolutely brilliant they assign an officer who will help you, hearing is a bodily function and a hearing aid does not compensate normal hearing like many people think, hence the reason you son needs help with speech, it just needs somebody experienced to be able to help you put this on paper, dont give up you will see on the NDCS parents support forum this is a regular thing for parents of deaf children to have to go through.

[Deleted User]

mookie wrote: »

My advice exactly, my daughter was turned down initially and after taking the above steps she was awarded for 2 years, you should call the DWP and ask for a 'revision' of your application, (the NDCS advises not to go straight to appeal as many people get the decision upturned at revision level) they will give you something like 4-6 weeks to provide supporting evidence and then you can start contacting anybody you can who deals with you sons condition asking for a letter to support your claim. Forward it all to them and once they have all your evidence they will look through your claim again.

The NDCS are absolutely brilliant they assign an officer who will help you, hearing is a bodily function and a hearing aid does not compensate normal hearing like many people think, hence the reason you son needs help with speech, it just needs somebody experienced to be able to help you put this on paper, dont give up you will see on the NDCS parents support forum this is a regular thing for parents of deaf children to have to go through.

if you appeal it automatically goes to a decision maker for revision as part of the appeal process,however only 10% of decisions are changed on revision,the figure for appeal(oral hearing as opposed to a written one)is around 50%.
You have 4 weeks to submit an appeal,but if you request from the DLA people a statement of reasons then this is extended to 6 weeks.
If you choose not to appeal then you can submit a new application after 3 months

mookie

woodbine wrote: »

if you appeal it automatically goes to a decision maker for revision as part of the appeal process,however only 10% of decisions are changed on revision,the figure for appeal(oral hearing as opposed to a written one)is around 50%.
You have 4 weeks to submit an appeal,but if you request from the DLA people a statement of reasons then this is extended to 6 weeks.
If you choose not to appeal then you can submit a new application after 3 months

I know, I was given this information when I sought help and asked for an appeal myself, then on contacting the NDCS and being assigned a family officer they told me to change it to a revision. I then got 4-6 weeks to forward my supporting evidence and on revision it was changed.

Shazand

scooby1001 wrote: »

Hi you should get in contact with the national deaf childrens society, they have good information. My daughter is hearing impaired with other problems and i applied for dla and was turned down but re applied a couple of years later and sent lots of information with the claim right from the start letters from drs, teacher of the deaf and paeditrition etc and she was awarded mrc for 6 years and I got the award notice 3 weeks after sending the claim in, i think it must have been a record. I think the more evidence you can send in with the claim the higher chance of getting a good result.

Hi Scooby

Thank you for the above, I wasn't aware of the NDCS, I will look on their website for more support. Both my husband and me feel that my son has been given an hearing aid, but no support or advise for us has been given.

scooby1001

Just wondering how old your son is? If he is at school then the teacher of the deaf should be visiting him at school on a regular basis. I found ours very helpful she even wrote a supporting letter for DLA. You can ring them up with any worries etc. Does your son go for regular hearing tests/mold changing etc with the audioligist. because that is someone else who are very good if you have any worries. How often they go depends on their age.(my daughter goes every 6 months). You should have regular checks with ent consultant also(we go every year). Sometimes you need to be pro active.