Matthew got a diagnosis on thursday he has servere autism im hoping this might mean we get some help now, social services are still not interested, i was diagnosed with mild depression last tuesday and could really do with some help! waiting for a carers assesment been 6 weeks now and not even got a date 2 weeks ago i was told it would be about 2 weeks so i think its time for another call. i dont know wher to start i have the dla forms to do to see if we can get higher rate, i have had to give up work as i am 2 exhausted by the weekend to go toi work. someone said i need to get in touch with the outreach worker what do they do?? never heard of them before and is there anyone else i should be contacting???

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life is to short to worry about the future, what will be will be

well done on getting the diagnosis
i would get help filling in the dla forms to start with, as they are very exhausting and repetative, a good idea is to keep a diary for a week or so with things how long it takes to dress him, put him to bed,how often he wakes in night and that sort of thing so you have an average when you filling the form in. citizens advice are usually good or a carers group if you have one nearby or you can ask questions on here as a lot of us have filled these in

i would keep phoning and phoning for your carers assessment and care assessment for you son as you will need this when respite or direct paymens come in and it means social workers know what help you need. depending on age you could be looking into pushchairs or speech therapy and schooling

once you get the dla you need to contact carers allowance and tax credits as that will go up as well.
corinne

Hi Corrine
thanks for your reply, we already get dla for Matthew at middle rate (sorry i dint state that befor) we are going for higher rate now and i get carars allowance too Matthew is 4 1/2 as well as the autism he has gdd, servere learning dificultys and servere behaviour problems he already has a statement in place for school (special needs school) which is just being amended to add the autism in. also matthew has to have a harness on the pushchair as he gets out on the side of busy roads and has no sence of danger we take the pushchair everywhere as a result to this and most of the time he is in it! not sure about mobility component of dla??? but going go for it. he aso has a special seat for the car, the o/t surplyed the harness, is it a good idea to get a statement from her?

i think i will phone again tomorrow for carars assesment dont have a phone instaled yet as we only moved in last week

Becca
xxxx

its a good idea to get a statement from everyone that will give you a report really, not sure if you will be able to apply for mobility until matthew is 5 as its not he cant walk more he wont ~(bit like my matt when younger hehe) if you have a mobile phone make sure ss have that number and say that you want a call back by next day or when its convenient then if they dont call you call back again, Daniel can give lessons on making phone calls persistance is the key but looks like you got a good start already, good luck, i gotta go collect market stall with matthew in tow as hubby at work so wont be here for a bit but hope not too long hehehe

hey hun, i would deffinatly get some help filling in the dla forms again they are so daunting! as for social services took us 10 weeks to get an assessment, dont think it would of been that quick without dan in the end we foned (and this is no joke...) every 2mins to speak to the manager who had promised us an assessment until the receptionists got so sick of us foning that they MADE him answer the fone. but to be honest, even then he fobbed us off...SO...nrxt day, we all got in the car, dropped our eldest at school and drove to their offices and demanded to speak to the manager....HIS manager actually came out and spoke to dan, he was very apologetic and sorted it out for us, had an assessment within a week and the social worker was really nice, dead helpfull so keep pushing because once you get past their initial ignorance they do have a heart (it seems...) If you feel you need some respite, ask for it, they can do it in the form of direct payments (altho thats not for everyone) or respite centres, whichever your more comfortable with. before you have your assessment, take a look at your options and be clear about what you want for when they come, best to be prepared

goodluck and take one step at a time, you dont want to take on too much and stress yourself out even more

xx