DLA for 3 year old

[Tweakanddashi]

Hi, I'm not sure how realistic I am being.
DS2 is 3 and a half. He's waiting to be seen for a possible ASD diagnosis.
A friend who has an older son with an autism diagnosis suggested that I could apply for DLA but I'm not sure.

The main thing that I wondered about applying for is sleep. About 80% of nights DS is awake for several hours between midnight and 5am. He tries to go downstairs, tries to climb over the stairgate and needs encouragement and persuading to come back to bed and stay there.

I've given up work but this isn't the only reason (my dad had a traumatic brain injury and I'm helping my mum with him) . I just found that I couldn't cope with stress at work when I am always so tired.

He does have some other problems- sensory processing problems, it's difficult to get him to drink, difficult to get him to wear clothes that aren't a fleece onsie, doesn't like to walk, can be physically aggressive to other children if they come near to him (so he needs a lot of "helicopter parenting").

My question is, is he too young for the sleep issue to count? I keep thinking that if I could just get him to sleep better then I could go back to work.

Has anyone else got experience of this please? I've never really claimed benefits apart from child benefit and I am wondering if it is worth trying- would they just say that some children sleep badly?

Thank you

He needs more care than your average three year old. I have two dc with autism. Both don’t sleep and one is especially dangerous left unsupervised. Will jump off window sills, climb on furniture. I think it’s worth applying as that counts towards night time waking and he needs to be supervised.

They can only say no, what have you got to lose?

Google the cerebra dla guide and use that to help you do the forms.

It’s definitely possible to get dla at a young age, ds was awarded high rate care at 2.5 for two years (it was then renewed at high rate until he is 16). He has asd and learning disabilities but when we applied he had no diagnosis and had only been referred to a paediatrician, he hadn’t actually seen anyone.

Go into lots of detail on the forms, the person reading them won’t have any specific medical knowledge.

Thank you both