DLA FOR my 6yo lb

[AlanaImogen]

My little boy was diagnosed with ASD/social communication disorder and is being tested for ADHD too.
I was holding off claiming DLA for him but decided to put in a claim on 31st January. Rang today for an update to find he has been awarded lower rate care and mobility. I am glad he's been offered something so I can replace all his broken bedroom furniture I'm just abit miffed it's lower. Am i right in thinking this totals to 42.60 a week? Also regarding backdating will it be 3 weeks of 42.80 or 7 weeks as he would recieve his first payment anyway. Can someone enlighten me

Hi.
This is from autism.org. Might be worth appealing if you have evidence to support the middle or high care rate. I was told night issues play quite a role with getting middle or higher. You will get £21.80 + £21.80 i think. Not sure but I think ours were backdated from date I applied until i received my first payment.

How does my child qualify for middle or high rate care?

To qualify for middle care the child must meet any one of the four rules listed below.

To qualify for high care the child must meet one of the day time rules and one of the night time rules listed below.

The two day time rules are:

Frequent attention is needed throughout the day in connection with bodily functions.
We discussed the meaning of ‘attention’ and ‘bodily functions’ above. Key to this part of the criteria is that the attention must be needed frequently and must be spread throughout the day. For example a child who needed a couple of hours additional help in the morning to get up, washed and dressed but then needed no more additional care during the rest of the day would not qualify for middle or high care under this rule because the care needed is not spread throughout the day, they would instead qualify for low care because the additional help is more than an hour.
Continual supervision is needed throughout the day to avoid substantial danger.
For this rule it is important to describe how the supervision needed is a lot more than the supervision needed by other children of the same age. Explain what dangers you are avoiding by providing the additional level of supervision.

The two night time rules are:

Prolonged or repeated attention is needed at night in connection with bodily functions.
Prolonged means about 20 minutes and repeated is twice or more, we discussed the meaning of ‘attention’, ‘bodily functions’ and ‘night time’ above. For example if you have to be up at night time for more than 20 minutes to help a 14 year-old to get up, use the toilet and then get back to bed you could qualify under this rule. Soothing a child back to sleep can count as attention with a bodily function, but only if it is ‘substantially in excess of the sort of help that other children of the same age need.
The child needs watching over at night for a prolonged period or at frequent intervals to avoid substantial danger.
‘Watching over’ means someone being awake to watch over the child. Prolonged means about 20 minutes and repeated is twice or more, and we discussed the definition of ‘night time’ above. For example if a child wakes in the middle of the night, and you have to get up to watch over them because it is dangerous to leave them unsupervised, you could qualify under this rule.

If you asked them to send you a pack, I think it's from when you applied.

For future reference, the Cerebra guide is very good on applying for DLA if your child has a neurological disability.

if you get tax credits don't forget to inform them in case benefits office forget as your tax credits will increase

He requires constant care during the day and care through the night too as he has frequent night terrors. I ALSO have to wake for toilet as when he sleeps his body completley shuts down and he doesn't recieve signal to go toilet so he is still in pull ups.
I have informed HMRC about his disability and have been told this would be sent to the head office as a request as they need to get in contact with DWP. How much am I expevting?

Only reason I am asking is bevause I have alot of bedroom furniture to replace as he has literally smashed it to bits to the point between 2 single wardrobes he has 1 door left and a set of 5 drawers he has 1 drawer, he breaks everything. Urinates allover his bedroom. All I can do is replace though

I would appeal. It sounds like he should get at least middle rate care, if not higher. Unfortunately the don't care whether they destroy things, it's about how much supervision they need compared to an NT child.

Have a look at the Cerebra website - it will be really helpful in appealing

So much of it is how you've worded the forms unfortunately. Diagnosis makes no difference really - my ds was given high rate care 2 years before he had any diagnosis.

Have a read of the cerebra dla guide and see if you think you've filled the forms out fully enough. You'll then be able to judge whether you've got the right amount or not (it doesn't sound like you have).

ASD care needs vary from child to child but if he needs constant care I would appeal.

DD has autism and severe learning diffs. we were turned down when we applied and also when we asked for a reconsideration. We got high rate care on appeal (without tribunal - they look at the case again before tribunal goes ahead).

agree with fairy, a lot depends on the wording of the form. download the Cerebra DLA guide and use that when requesting a reconsideration (I think this is mandatory before you can appeal). Beware of the timelines. Good luck!

If I appeal and loose his payments will stop and he will loose all of it won't he?

with his DX and sort of care needs, I wouldn't be concerned about losing low rate care.

I'm concerned about him loosing it altogether and instead of recieving 21.80 care then going on to recieve nothing

I think if you really make the forms as detailed as possible and use all the available guides - national autistic society, contact a family and cerebra- before you appeal / reapply- then I wouldn't be concerned about losing low rate care. I think you would have more chance of it going up rather than losing it completely.

i think you would have more chance of it going up rather than losing it completely.

agree ^^

I think it's definitely worth appealing.
The higher rate relates to night time care. You need to show that you spend more time caring for DS during the night than you would for a NT child his age.
Often it can be down to the wording of the form. Try and be as specific as possible so state that EVERY NIGHT your DS wakes up AT LEAST every (x amount of) hours and takes A MINIMUM of (x amount of time) to be settled back down to sleep. Be specific listing the reasons for the wake ups and the reason it takes time to resettle and why DS can't manage himself.

also, do you work? if you dont you would qualify for Carers Allowance but only if he gets at least Middle Rate Care. You would also qualify for extra tax credits. There is much more to gain then 'just' middle or high rate care.

I wrote that he wakes up between 3 and 5 times a night with night terrors. He screams the house down full volume sweating and shaking yet I am unable to wake him so I just have to console him by cuddling him back to sleep.
He requires constant care all day every day and through the night too. I can't even leave the room for 5 minutes without something bad happening (he lashes out at his siblings) my youngest being 7 months old
I also have to help him all theough the day as his self hygiene is ridiculous and he thinks it's boring to brush his teeth, wash his face and wipe his bum. I have to do all 3 of these things for him which most of the time ends in me having to physically restrain him whilst he's having a meltdown.
Dinner time is another one because he cannot sit still for 5 minutes he's constantly running round the kitchen messing about, an average dinner time takes us approximately 90 minutes and this has to be fully attended. It was only 2 weeks ago he stabbed his younger brother in the back with a butter knife (luckily didn't pierce his skin) I understand some of these are normal daily care needs of a 6yo but he is harder to care for than my 7mo DD

No I don't work, my Husband does though 18 hours a week

If you have put that you are unable to wake him up, could it be that they don't class it as care if he is asleep.
Allthewaves post explains it well-you need to show he needs the level of help/supervision as described in that post. If he's alseep then it's neither help with bodily functions or supervision to avoid him harming himself/others.

If it's a case that he is awake and needs help settling back to sleep (more that a NT child his age would) or needs help with going to the toilet/changing his pull up during the night or needs watching as he gets up and wonders round the house then that is a lot different to him having night terrors and staying asleep.
It can be really difficult to word the forms. You need to be really specific regarding length of time things take and how frequently things happen as this is what the award is based on. Your examples need to be specific in terms of being beyond what is expected of that age and you may need to say 'this takes longer than you would expect for a child this age' or 'I would not expect to supervise in this situation for a child this age'.

I think you need to read in detail the criteria needed for the middle and higher rate components and if you feel your DS qualifies then you need to evidence it very specifically. So, making dinner - do you have to bring him into the kitchen with you to watch constantly as he would be a danger to himself otherwise or can you pop in and out of where he is to check on him as you may have to do with a lot of 6 year olds. You need to word you form along those lines. It's hard as you're probably so used to caring for him that you don't realise the amount you do and what's normal.
Maybe try and write your day out in as much detail as possible, how long things take, what DS does to resist, etc and show to a friend with a child the same age with no disability. They may highlight to you what is extreme behaviour and what is 'normal' for that age. May help with wording form.

Thankyou Littledinaco. That was a big help, I'll try write in detail how our day goes and see what happens

As a heads up they don't consider night terrors as night time care as so many "normal" children have these. You would have to focus on the supervision and care you would have to give in response to these to demonstrate how the needs are more than an average child of the same age. So for example, bashing their head on the wall, walking around pulling things down, climbing over barriers etc etc. If you've just said they wake xxx due to night terrors they would consider that normal. Sounds odd but I have heard that is the case.

Lots of dla forums on Facebook - if you search for dla you'll find them pop up. Loads of help and advice on there.

DLA forms are tricky. You have to remember that all 6 year olds need care and all 6 year olds need a lot of care. So that's the starting point to work from.

So if you say 'I have to supervise him in the bathroom because he doesn't like having a wash' they might think 'Tell me a 6 year old who does!!'

If you say 'I have to be present at all times in the bathroom and supervise all washing because he resists washing. He becomes hysterical and refuses to wash. However, as he is dirty, he has to be cleaned. The process of convincing him to have his face washed can take up to half an hour. I have to clean his teeth for him because he refuses to put the toothbrush in his mouth. Most six year olds may need some assistance to ensure adequate brushing, but they would attempt toothbrushing themselves.

He needs to be supervised in the toilet because he will otherwise urinate in his bedroom against his furniture. I have had to replace several items of furniture that have been ruined. Almost all 6 year olds know that the toilet is the place to urinate. Etc.

My husband is going to appeal it on my behalf as I am rubbish at wording things

Good luck. Tell your husband to do lots of research / reading regarding what qualifies for the higher/middle rate so he can word the forms accordingly. There is a lot out there and it can be very time consuming but it is worth doing.

Lougles post is good for examples. You need to answer every question like this - explaining WHY his needs are more than the average 6 year old.

Really good suggestions - this was kind detail in went into

"my 6 year old wakes up at night between hours if 12pm and 5am and goes to the toilet up to 4 times during this period however he cannot be trusted to return to bed as he often goes downstairs and break things/cause injury to himself . So I have to get up and supervise each night toilet break then stay wih him until he falls back asleep this can take 30mins each time.

Apply to the New Life charity for funding for Tough Furniture. They are very good at helping with things like this.

newlifecharity.co.uk.

The tough furniture is VERY robust.
www.toughfurniture.com