DSA accepted... what next?

[Puppupandaway]

So my son has had his dsa application accepted. Amongst other things, he is being given a specialist mentor (autism). On the letter it states we need to contact the company that he's been assigned, forward the email, and his mentor will be sorted within three days. I'm thinking it's a bit early to be sorting this, in case he doesn't end up on the course he's aiming for.

Should we wait til early Sept/after results to contact them, or would it be best to sort it now?? Will they expect us to do it now even though the letter states he has to be registered and attending the uni to receive support?

Contact the company now as they will have to do a needs assessment and write a report, which can take several weeks. After your son has confirmed his place he can contact his university's disability student support department who should offer some guidance. Also some universities invite neuro divergent students to special event, and offer quiet accommodation etc,

Thank you @Soma

If he has been assigned a mentoring company then he has already had the Needs Assessment. I would say contact the company now and see what they say. They will probably want a copy of the both the DSA2 and the Study Needs Assessment. If your son wants in person support that can be more difficult to arrange so the company may want to know an idea of numbers in advance. I do agree with also contacting the Disability/Student Support team at the university now as well if you haven't already.

My ds starts university in the autumn, he applied for DSA, has had his assessment & been told what equipment he is eligible for. Once your ds's application has been processed he should get a date for his assessment.

Better to do it now, so you have everything in place for wherever he goes. If you wait he will be in a queue of many and support potentially delayed.

As someone who delivers this support my advice is to wait. The availability of mentors will change between now and his course date and your son won’t be able to confirm when he’s free as he doesn’t have his time table yet. Although, the main reason to wait is your sons funding isn’t in place until he starts his course so they won’t be able to set him up on their systems yet.

The supplier has KPIs they have to meet in relation to contacting your son and it usual for annual leave requests to be barred for Sept as everyone’s working over time to make sure students supports in place. I’d contact them as soon as he has his timetable.

@Ftctvycdul Thank you, that makes sense.

@Nat6999 He's had his letter confirming his entitlement eg software, ink costs etc. But the section detailing his non medical mentor says the next steps are to contact the mentor company. As a pp says, I'm not sure what they can do until he gets his timetable and enrols properly so we will wait.

Thanks everyone.

@lastchanceflower Thank you. We have already been in touch with his firm choice uni. He should be receiving in person mentoring, two hours a week on campus. I'm going to wait to see if they get in touch again now that we have had his confirmation email. Thanks.

Ds was told he would be contacted in September to arrange a date to confirm everything he needs & arrange delivery dates for things like the chair, monitor, printer, laptop, software, dictaphone & trolley bag ready for him to start on 23 September.