Financial help?

[MotherJack]

Can someone advise me on the possibility of financial help. My son has a brain malformation for which he is awaiting surgery.

His school are brilliant with him and he has counselling and the Inclusion Support Team are coming into school very soon to observe him and help the school help him.

It's a weird thing, the brain malformation as it has so very many different effects. My son displays certain spectrum behaviours and meets much of that of dyspraxia - but probably could not be defined as either (and the rest of it!).

Because of the condition, he has terrible eyesight and needs substantial glasses. I know that children are entitled to free glasses, but because of his hypersensitivity he needed frames which were extremely comfortable and sprung so cost £60 and because his lenses are so thick I had them lightweighted for an extra £20 - again due to his hypersensitivity I wanted them to be as comfortable as possible.

I have been told that I would have to pay the same surcharge for repairs, which are quite frequent for 5 year olds! His lenses are already scratched. It may cost me a fortune but I am doing it because I need to because of his condition.

I also would like to purchase a pillow that has been developed specifically to ease the pain of his condition which is $50 plus international postage.

Is there any way that anyone knows of where I can get some financial help with such things? I doubt he would meet the requirements for DLA.

Thank you

DLA is paid in three rates, my ds gets middle rate care when we thought we wouldn't get anything. it's worth applying for it you never know. there are probably other extra things you do that you don't even know you do for him that other parents don't for their children. until we sat and thought about it we were amazed how much extra support/care our ds needs.

Do apply for DLA, and don't delay getting teh form either- if you get, it is awarded from the day you ask for the papers, not send it in

cerebra have a great guide to DLA

otehrwise look at grants funsing- does your occupartion ahve abenevolent scheme (or one you / DP ahve had in the past)- ds1's therapy was paid for by such a trust as he ahd worked in a field related to newspapers.

(And if inclusion team are coming in, it is worth applying fur sure)

You dont need a diagnosis to apply for DLA. You should give it a try!

Apply for DLA, the extra money will help.

Also look at the 'family fund' and Cerebra (who do grants for equipment).

Wow, thank you!

I had genuinely discounted DLA on the basis of his upcoming operation, but I have recently realised it won't cure him, just stabilise him - if we're lucky.

I'd never heard of Cerebra before so thank you for bringing it to my attention. I have downloaded the DLA guidelines and will have a look at that, along with the family fund and the rest of the site after.

Thank you so much

I can really see why they warn you that it can be quite a depressing application process. I'm only a third of the way through the guidelines and I need a break. You just sort of get on with things, don't you, until it's brought to your attention that it's not exactly mainstream.

Its a horrid form to fill out. Someone on here advised me to keep sane by writing down something positive about my son on a different piece of paper to combat the negative things I was having to write about my DS. If you need help, post on here!