Finally got the paperwork come through a couple of weeks a go after having requested it as early as the beginning of September and had to keep ringing to see why they hadn’t sent it (need to write a note apparently to make sure pay is backdated if we are awarded it), stared at it for the last 10 days and now have been getting round to filling it in.
My son is coming up to 4 and has autism, yet to have an official diagnosis but has seen paediatrician who agrees and has referred us to see the autism team, been waiting for this appointment for about 6 weeks now.
For supporting evidence we have reports from the paediatrician, his nursery and his speech therapist. His nursery teacher has also happily filled in the section of the forms where somebody else who knows the child can write something. Everything she has written has echoed what I have written too, thankfully.
Basically my son is a handful, he isn’t entirely non verbal more so non communicative. He doesn’t express his wants and needs at all. He’s still in nappies as his understanding is poor, won’t follow instructions and is a complete and utter whirlwind almost 24/7. He won’t walk anywhere, he is almost 4 and still using a buggy as he is not aware of dangers at all and again, won’t follow instructions or hold your hand. He literally will either run away or drop to the floor and cry (worryingly this actually happened in the middle of a road before, luckily it wasn’t a busy one). He tip toe walks occasionally and has random obsessions with spinning. One spinning session led to a hospital visit after he landed on the metal bed frame and cut his head open.
He still needs a lot of help with getting dressed, eating and drinking, washing etc. we have to physically rub his hands together ourselves under the tap as he just doesn’t understand the concept. He won’t brush his teeth himself or clean himself when in the bath either.
Night times are where we struggle the most. He CAN sleep through the night but as you’re supposed to write about your worst days then night times really are terrible. He won’t sleep with a duvet over him, he still uses a sleeping bag. We are forever monitoring his temperature as he won’t remove clothing if too warm or like I say, use a duvet or blanket if he got cold. He can get out of bed and wander and because he’s in a sleeping bag and in total darkness he of course trips and hurts himself. On bad nights he literally wakes and needs constantly resettling 10+ times a night, it’s relentless. In more recent times one of us has just ended up sleeping on his cold, hard bedroom floor because the wakings occur that often.
I guess I just want to know if there’s a chance you guys think we either will or won’t get it? Although I’m fully aware that will make no difference except give me some peace of mind. Relying on this money as he has some speech therapy sessions coming up soon FINALLY!! But they are out of town and I really could do with my own car (partner has our family car for 12 hours a day at work) to take him and also to take him to other places to do different activities as he really thrives off keeping as busy as possible. He’s never been the kind of kid to sit and watch a movie or sit and colour for a while.