Can I apply for DLA for autistic son?

[Dlamayhem]

Ds is 12 and recently diagnosed with ASD. Someone mentioned to me today he might be eligible for DLA. Is that right?

I took a look at the forms today and it says you have to prove he needs additional care. It's hard to describe this though as it's things like prompting to do things, lacking independence, social support etc. All much more than I see in his NT peers. He also has problems with sleep and is seeing CAMHs due to anxiety - which take up a lot of time/emotional energy.

Would he really be eligible and how can you prove this need - it feels very hard to describe.
Any advice would be great.

You should be entitled. What you need to do is put together a list of everything you need to do for your son on a day to day basis, talk about his awareness of things that go on around him, is he self sufficient at all and what intervention s do you need to do when something goes wrong. While you’re doing this, get in touch with the CAMHs team your son works with, they can give you advice as well as a copy of the reports they’ve completed working with your son to include in the application. You should also get in touch with your sons social worker who can assist you with the form if you need it and also give you a letter talking about their involvement with your son. Do this with any other professionals who work with your son (you can even include ANA support or teachers) and make sure you include any contact information for these people you can so the DLA case workers can contact them if needed.
I hope this helps,
K

Yes, you can apply. Things like prompting do count as support. The Cerebra guide is helpful when completing the form.

Yes it’s possible but it’s not about the disability it’s about how it affects their day to day life. Does he need extra care? When he doesn’t sleep can he be left unattended or do you need to be up to keep him safe? You get extra if you caring for him during the night too, is he safe to be left alone? Can he go out alone and plan routes alone such as to knock on a friend in the next street and go to the park and come home safely an hour later? Has your soon seen an educational psychologist? As their report is usually very useless to send in as supporting evidence

I'm in the same boat and am in the process of filling out the forms.

If you look online you can read the accompanying notes for the application form. It gives examples which make it clear what sort of things they count as additional care. I think all the things you've listed are on there.

I'm finding the process quite emotional - realising how much time we spend supporting our kid beyond what would be expected at that age. It's not an obvious disability but once we started writing lists it blew my mind how much time we spend supporting even just with anxiety around stuff.

For example I spent hours preparing them for covid vaccine. Dealing with the meltdown about the idea of it. Working on a plan where they felt in control of the process, and helping them come up with ideas to feel calmer and distract them on the day. Lengthy discussions of said plan... Then we went to the centre, and spent quite a long time there trying to talk them down from a freak out. We couldn't get the jab in the end and now I have to figure out whether we can get an exemption pass to travel.

These scenarios are common for us, and unseen by people outside the family.

Yes you can apply for it.

Yes you can, I do for my child.
it’s really hard to associate the things you do for him as being extra, you just do it. The accompanying notes really helped me.
Think about things like teeth cleaning. A 12 yr old should be able to clean their teeth properly, no prompting etc, but we have to prompt many times and then stand over her to make sure it’s done properly, then clean up after her.