When to claim DLA for 4yo with ASD

[jamoncrumpets]

Just interested in when people began their DLA claims for children with ASD.

DS is still at the beginning of the diagnosis journey, though we do have a letter from community paediatrics that states he 'displays symptoms of autistic spectrum disorder'.

Based on research, and what we know about him, he will almost certainly qualify for DLA, and me for CA. And we could really use the money to pay for speech therapy, poss ABA, and things like 1-1 swimming lessons.

But I don't want to claim 'too soon' and possibly get rejected because of insufficient evidence.

So how do you know when it's the 'right' time to claim? Should we wait for further investigations/evidence from the ASD team?

[magicroundabouts]

We applied about 6 months before DS received his diagnosis (awarded MRC). In the section about upcoming appointments I put the next date he was due to see the Community Paed and said that an ASD diagnosis was anticipated.

In terms of supporting docs, we had the initial Paed report, SALT, preschool reports and specialist teacher report. The DLA guide by Cerebra is really helpful when it comes to filling out the form. www.cerebra.org.uk/help-and-information/guides-for-parents/dla-guide/.

[Allthewaves]

In my own experience I think supporting evidence from difference settings is a huge help. So a statement from school/nursery about issues, peads letter, any childcare that you might use. Cerebra guide is very good

[Fairylea]

We applied when ds was 2.5 and hadn’t even seen a paediatrician. He had only seen the health visitor and the doctor. We just decided we had nothing to lose so googled the cerebra dla guide and used that to help us do the form and he was awarded high rate dla for 2 years. When it came to renewal it was renewed at the same rate until he is 12 (he is now 6). I do think ds case was very clear though which helped, he was fast tracked for diagnosis (diagnosed at 3) and now attends an autism specific special school.

The national autistic society website has a whole section about claiming dla which is very helpful.