To not understand if we qualify for higher rate care or not…

[SENFormStress]

I have almost finished the DLA form for my 3 year old. He has a speech delay and suspected autism (probably won’t be diagnosed for at least 5 years with the wait times…). I feel pretty confident that I have wrote all I can for the day time care needs sections but I am struggling with the night time part.

His usual sleeping pattern is from around 12am-2am to 11am-12am. He will occasionally go to sleep at 11pm-12am but this is rare. I have seen that I have to prove that he is either a danger to himself or others during this time and needs supervision for that or needs to have care needs during this time. We have to be awake during this time but he will often just sit and watch his tablet until he is ready to sleep. If we try to get him to go to sleep before he is ready he will kick, hit and scream and run around and throw things ect, sometimes but we mostly just wait until he is ready to sleep now as it is easier to manage that way and trying to get him to go to sleep earlier just doesn’t work. He has some nights where he will sit and scream and cry and we’re not allowed to touch him but there’s nothing we can do other than offer comfort which he refuses and wait until he is ready…

Does anyone know if we will qualify? I can’t find any similar situations when I google it so maybe it’s quite rare??

No idea but they will tell you once they’ve seen your form.

You will qualify my daughters specialist health visitor wrote a letter to dla about the nighttime care she receives and that she’s a danger to herself and will wander etc, I now get high rate care for her. She was 3.5 when I applied.

For HRC, you need to show DC need help or supervision throughout both day and night in excess of what is typically expected for DC the same age. Nighttime is typically considered from when the house shuts down for the night. This is normally considered to be from 11pm-7am, but can be different in some circumstances. It is possible to qualify for what you wrote. Although if DC sleeps through after going to bed late, it can be harder to get HRC than if they go to bed late but still need care and supervision at points throughout the night.

Has DS been referred to a sleep clinic?