A DLA Question-Sorry

[BeauticianNotMagician]

In part 20-The childs mental health where it asks 'roughly how often the tantrums,aggression,anxiety last and how long the child needs help when it happens'.What do i put.Ds1s tantrums last an hour or more usually and he has at least four-six meltdowns a day.But it can be loads more i mean everytime he speaks to me or me to him he gets upset and frustrated as he cant understand.Do i guess as to what a day is like at school as well as the teachers arent being very helpful at the moment.

Ahh i hate this form.

Bump

This is what I wrote about tantrums, meltdowns etc for Part 20 of my son's claim:

"J's tantrums and meltdowns vary in frequency and duration. At the time of writing they occur at least daily, as many as five times daily when severely distressed. It can take up to 90 minutes to bring him down to a level where he can be spoken to calmly, however he will continue to ?rumble? for several hours, sometimes even days, during which time tantrums will bubble below the surface and will reignite at the slightest provocation. Obviously, it takes great calm and patience to manage the aftermath of these meltdowns and a careless word can cause a great deal of harm, not to mention physical damage to property and person."

You could also refer to meltdowns after school if he has them, and say they are related to the stress of coping in that environment. If he has support in school to prevent emotional outbursts you could mention that too. It's important to talk about preventative measures as well as how you deal with the aftermath.

Reading how well you have worded that makes me feel i have filled in my form terribly.I used to be so good at writing but these days i struggle to string a sentence together written and verbally.Thank you so much.

I have been working on this form for a week doing a little each night when the ds's are in bed.

I put "These incidents can occur several times throughout the day. DD can go up to half an hour, or even an hour without anything distressing her. Then she can have period of time when she is distraught every few minutes, with at least 5-10 minutes of calming down & reassurance needed between them.

Some days are slightly better than others, but even a good day has many occasions where DD has got upset, angry or frustrated, because the things that distress her are every day occurrences."

if that is any help

Thank you so much i now cant stop writing in that section.
I really didnt think it was worth applying for dla but now putting everything down on paper i realise how bad most days are.

Im now stuck on part 24 any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Bump

You might want to consider for next time not actually writing your answers on the form but compiling a Word document with the same headings. The form is quite restrictive in the amount of space it gives for each section (behaviour issues springs to mind - mine covered six pages ) and by typing it in full you can say as much as is relevant, as well as going back as many times as necessary to re-edit till you get it just right. Use bullet points at the beginning of each section to highlight main areas of difficulty, with a fuller explanation below.

Don't forget to keep a photocopy for your records and for your review - it might seem obvious but you'd be surprised how many don't.

Hi streakybacon yes i do wish i had taken longer to write on the actual form although i did make lots of rough notes beforehand.I will be sending loads of supporting evidence from teachers,doctor,health visitor,speech therapist as well as more information of my own.Im still not sure its worth applying as i know there are others struggling much more than me.