Any advice or tips for filling in dla form?

[Fel1x]

Am filling in for ds for the first time and it's hard to know where to start!
Have heard that there is a knack to getting the style/format right so wondered if anyone has any good hints or tips to help me get started?
Ds has aspergers so it is border line whether he will get dla or not. Want to make sure I fill the forms in as well and as accurately as I can
thanks!

Hi Fel1x, I am just doing DD's renewal, so am on part 9 - it's like pulling teeth

Tips...

Have you got the cerebra guide? It is excellent.

Basically, first thing is to remember that the decision makers are not medically trained. They don't have SN experience. They just have your form, and a 'Decision Makers' guide' along with a Manual of Medical Conditions, which tells them what to expect for various conditions.

So, you have to be ABSOLUTELY EXPLICIT. If you give your DS medication, you need to describe what you have to do (ie. crush tablet, dissolve tablet, draw up syringe, etc), what steps you need to take to persuade him to take it, how long it takes, how often you have to do it etc.

Don't feel confined to the spaces they give you. Use Microsoft Word to type your answers and then if they don't fit, write 'see additional sheet'. Make sure each additional sheet is clearly labelled with Name, date of birth, NI No, Question No. etc.

My advice is write how it affects every day activities from sitting playing, to feeding, to journeys in the car, potty training etc. I thought about all the activities we did in a day and imagined how a normal baby would do it compared to by munchkin who is one year old and what help he needed. ie in the morning he would need picked up from cot, wouldn't be sitting or pulling himself up. In the highchair he needs extra support to aid sitting. When playing with toys he can't sit unsupported so needs help and needs extra stimulus and assistance as can't crawl to toys. He can only go short car journeys as gets uncomfortable in car-seat. Can't communicate effectively so needs someone with him who understands his manner.

Hope that helps. Just go into as much detail as you can.

I assume you've already photocopied it to do a first draft etc.
My DH started completing ours and that turned out to be great. I'd felt I was the only one who could do it but when it came to putting pen to paper and 'casting the first stone' I just burst into tears. He jnust worked through it being utterly dispassionate so once the skeleton was done I was able to fill it out with examples etc.
We also sent copies of every report ever done on DS1 inc Ed Psych.
Beacuse I was pg when we did ours we included foreseeable problems eg how we were using the pushchair as a restraint for DS1, he was still in nappies, how a 3rd child was going to make supervising DS1 more difficult and limit the places we could go as a family even more.

Thank you. I've got a copy to do a draft with and have just applied for the cerebra notes on completing the form too.

I was advised to describe the absolute worst day in each scenario when filling in the form for a friend.

Felx, you can download the cerebra notes as a PDF

I've managed to finish writing mine, and just need to fill in the boxes with 'how long' 'how many, etc.

I just spent a couple of hours down at my Church using the photocopier to photocopy all the reports. It's quite good, because we have an 'honesty tin' and a folder which you fill in the number of copies you did and What for (ie. kids work, worship or personal, etc) and if it's personal you pay 5p per copy. I had 136 pages to photocopy so I left £6.80 lighter .

If you haven't wept your heart out during the filling in, you probably haven't done it right. With your head it makes perfect sense but with your heart, writing all that stuff out goes against every parenting bone in your body, it feels like the complete opposite of your job as a mother.
But hey, tis a rite of passage for SN families - made me realise that's what we are, it's not just DS1 with a label, I'm an SN mum, we are an SN family.

GladioliBuckets, I think you are right . I kept it together while I was writing the renewal, until I got to part about telling them anything I hadn't been able to say earlier in the form.

I didn't think, I just typed. But when I read back what I had typed, I felt a raw ache. Because it was all true, but shouldn't be.

It is heartbreaking reading report after report of DD1's inability to function. And it does feel like a betrayal to feel relief that I have those reports to back me up, becuase I would love nothing more than to have a small, tidy stack of letters, all saying "no concerns" rather than the 2½ inches of reports saying "can't, won't, struggles, has no understanding of, needs, requires", etc.