Dla high mobility rate for mental health asd mixed anxiety/depressive disorder advice please

[Sarahdavies86]

My 12 year old son has autisum and mixed anxiety depressive disorder. He was recently admitted to a teir 4 mental health unit after jumping infront of a car after voices told him too. He is in a very special school (medical tuition service) and has a 1-1 because he is not allowed to be left alone at any point during waking hours. He currently receives high rate care low rate mobility. I was wondering what the chances of him receiving high rate mobility? If these voices come on when we are out it is so hard to keep him and other people safe, they instruct him do do all kinds of nasty things :( We are really going through a rough patch (well 6 months in so far!) And we just want to make life easier for him x

Sorry you are going through such a difficult time.

If you google "contact a family dla mobility" their PDF file will come up with the specific criteria for high rate mobility under asd and learning disabilities.

Good luck.

for a child with no physical mobility problems,the only route to HRM is 'severe mental impairment'.

Google it and 'DMG' (decision makers guide). I think you will have a right battle on your hand as the criteria are very strict and you may not meet them.

I have a child with ASD and severe learning difficulties. we got nowhere with HRM even though roads are an extreme hazard for DD (10 years old) as she has no understanding of road danger at any point.

have a read here at the bottom of the site:

www.autism.org.uk/about/benefits-care/benefits/children/dla-mobility-component.aspx

We filled in ds2's DLA renewal after a period (we later realised medication induced) when he behaved like this and just got LRM. It didn't occur to me to contest it at the time but I think the key thing would be pointing out he would need an adult escort to transport him anywhere by car to keep him (and others) safe and give examples of occasions when he has done dangerous things like attacking the driver or attempting to get out of a moving car. Luckily for us once we took ds2 off his medication his very dangerous behaviour decreased but boy was it a tough period so I really feel for you.

Thankyou for the replies everyone, from what I have read he does fit the criteria, honestly things are so hard this week, I'm sure he is suffering from psycotic hulicinations, just this week at school he got so upset I had to collect him, he was saying all his teachers turned into development and we're trying to kill him, he told me he had blood in his urine so took him to the doctors surgery, let him go ton the toilet to give a sample and while in there punched himself in the nose to draw blood to put into the sample. He was left in the loo for 2 MINUITS! I just can't leave him alone for any time and it's been this way for at least 6 months, my home is locked up like a prison, we have door alarms on the doors because his voices at one point were telling him to either stab or hit the other children in the head while they were sleeping. It wouldn't be so bad but he has followed through with some of these things he's being told to do. I just hope the doctors hurry with their assessments, it's the waiting that's the worst :(

I'm sorry that you're going through such a difficult time.
The actual regulations say:
(5) A person falls within subsection (3)(a) of [F2section 73] of the Act (severely mentally impaired) if he suffers from a state of arrested development or incomplete physical development of the brain, which results in severe impairment of intelligence and social functioning.

(6) A person falls within subsection (3)(b) of [F2section 73] of the Act (severe behavioural problems) if he exhibits disruptive behaviour which–

(a)is extreme,
(b)regularly requires another person to intervene and physically restrain him in order to prevent him causing physical injury to himself or another, or damage to property, and
(c)is so unpredictable that he requires another person to be present and watching over him whenever he is awake.
[F4(7) For the purposes of section 73(1)(d) of the Act, a person who is able to walk is to be taken not to satisfy the condition of being so severely disabled physically or mentally that he cannot take advantage of the faculty out of doors without guidance or supervision from another person most of the time if he does not take advantage of the faculty in such circumstances because of fear or anxiety.

(8) Paragraph (7) shall not apply where the fear or anxiety is—

(a)a symptom of a mental disability; and
(b)so severe as to prevent the person from taking advantage of the faculty in such circumstances.]

So he has to satisfy seven criteria to fulfil the requirements, which is why so many people fall down in their claims. It isn't that they necessarily don't qualify, but they don't evidence that they can tick all 7 boxes.

So: State of arrested development or incomplete physical development of the brain - Autism

Severe impairment of intelligence: Functional intelligence is impaired due to his autism and mental health condition - you can cite recent history.

impairment of Social functioning: Requires supervision during all waking hours and 1:1 tuition for own safety.

Subsection (3)(b): extreme behaviour, requiring physical intervention (this can be as little as a hand on his arm, by the way), and unpredictable (give e.g toilet - hitting own nose, etc.,)

Make it clear that he does need and want to go out with supervision, so as to satisfy the clause 8.