The dla form is awful and takes ages, right?

[elliejjtiny]

Or is it just me and my dyslexia that makes it difficult?

After 10 years of being mum to a child with sn normally I would keep my mouth shut about things like dla, the family fund and the cerebra toy library.

But this week my mil walked in on me sighing over dc4's dla form and I kind of had to tell her what I was doing. So I ended up with the usual comments about how it's only a form and she could have done it in 10 minutes blah blah blah. Took me about 8 hours in total to fill in the form including checking it and sorting out the evidence to send with it. Is that normal? Or does everyone else whizz through it in double quick time? I imagine if your child has a condition that doesn't include any appointments, hearing, sight or seizure issues then it might be quicker.

On the plus side the form is now finished which is a huge load off my mind. Just trying not to think about it while we wait now.

The forms are hell. And no it's not "just a form."

I'm currently doing a renewal for dd2, and we've been allocated 6mths to complete it. It's a sodding nightmare, and only one box for "what professional your child has seen in the past 6mths", dd has a huge list.
So much of it is about careful wording, and explaining a lot in a very small space, I think if dd just had one dx it might be slightly easier, but not by much.

Oh I hated that bit too, ended up using about half an extra sheet of paper and I couldn't remember the orthoptist's name (we see a different one every time). Those forms are definitely not designed for children who have a lot of appointments. I'm not sure if I did the mobility part right. Ds can walk a fairly long way but he walks like he is drunk. If he walks outside I have to hold his hand and kind of steer him in the right direction or he will bump into walls, lamposts, fall off the kerb etc. I wasn't sure if they wanted to know how far he could walk or how far he could walk without falling.

I'm used to lengthy writing and it took me an entire day sitting on the sofa and that's not first time Iv filled one in.

My first took me several evenings

DH recently spent an hour going through the DLA form for ds with a charity who specialise in helping people with disability. For £10 they mostly filled it in for him, we just need to add in a few bits once we have all the evidence from the professionals. Well worth the money.

Well your MiL is right. It is “just” a form.... A form that took me a couple of days to fill in!

On the other hand I didn’t think it was as bad as the EHCP letter which was open ended and meant I had to do legal training to sort that which took 6 months!!

You are not alone!

I always block of a week to do it, it’s so draining! The boxes are pointless and I end up with half a ream of “continuation sheets” before thinking about the reports. I do feel sorry for the postmen for their buildings!

I was so relieved to be given it until 2020 last year just to get a few years away from it!

Took me 8 hours and that was a renewal.

It's a hell of a form and we had problems with the questions not allowing us to fully detail DD2's needs (we have the walking steering thing too, along with lots and lots of continence problems and other stuff) - got rejected which I was kind of anticipating, so I've done the mandatory reconsideration request the other day.

I'm very very literate and I'd spent a good couple of months stockpiling evidence and supporting reports etc - but even I found it awful (I probably won't take it as far as an appeal if MR gets rejected).

Yep took me about the same time! Makes all other paperwork look like a walk in the park!