dla for possible autism/adhd

[tiredmummyneedswineandsleep]

although not officially diagnosed all the professionals and myself agree this is the case for ds 3. i have a letter from paed saying that ds displays traits and the education system should treat him as if he is diagnosed. also have copy of letter from paed to headteacher acknowledging that the school say ''this is clearly the case'' in terms of diagnosis.
I have DLA forms and am completing them looking at cereba guide. i also have a statement from a special needs charitable centre we attend supporting our claim and clearly stating ds's difficulties.
i have included info on ds meltdowns, lack of danger, kicking bedroom door and walls in middle of night, lack of social skills, communication difficulties, smearing of faeces in middle of night - even said if they want photographic evidence of stained carpet i can provide it!
any other tips please? i have heard they like to refuse a lot of asd claims even with evidence.

many thanks

I always go into minute detail. The last claim was about 60 pages long printed on A4 sheets.

That way you can store them on the PC and just update them at renewal time.

I've never had a claim queried or rejected (so far)

thanks, do you mean like a diary entry or just every thing your dc does? it's a horrible form - well booklet! i hate all the how much time stuff. it's more like every second of every minute, of every hour of every day!

Under each heading I wrote all the problems he experiences and what help he needs / receives to overcome them and what would happen if he didn't have that support.

I even repeated chunks of it where it was appropraite to more than one heading.

I hear that the DWP get something like 7 minutes to assess each claim. I wonder how they read my war and Peace in that time?

Also, I think writing screeds shows them you mean business whereas just constraining yourself to their little box on the form does not permit you to describe a very complex problem in sufficient detail.

well that's how I do it

A diary can be added on the last bit. I put each part in my word doc, ansewered using cerebra guide and included relevant examples and how DD would be effected without support. Another MN Mum showed me to put bullet points under headers 'Areas of difficulty' and 'support needed' then a paragraph underneath explaining in more detail, you do repeat a lot of stuff so keep referring back to other sections and add new evidence in each part. You must specify how the care is beyond what a child of the same age would need. I included all reports I have and statements from family and Inclusion teacher.

Mine was 26 extra word doc pages and I also included examples of visual supports a bit of info from NAS website and medical docs. I only sent it last week so Ive no idea if its right.

You can download the DWP decision makers guide and medical guide to see what info they are looking for.

Good luck.

xposted :)

thanks will add some extra sheets where it's formatted like that.
what rates does your ds get please wetaugust?

7 minutes!!!

crikey maybe i should add so many supporting documents it would take them 7 hours to read!

MRC and LRM

yep - that's what I was told by a worker for a disabled charity that I contacted for advice - a whole 7 minutes!

I must put 7 weeks effort into writing the damn thinmg