My daughter will be 4 in January and she has been denied the mobility component of DLA. Without going into details at the moment I think she satisfies the criteria for being virtually unable to walk, but does this not come into account if she is under 5? I was about to quote "Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, Section 73" but luckily realised it mentioned being 5 or over. I thought that although it was pretty hard to qualify for the mobility element before 5 years old that it could be awarded at the higher rate. Thanks.

(08-19-2010 06:03 PM)della Wrote:  My daughter will be 4 in January and she has been denied the mobility component of DLA. Without going into details at the moment I think she satisfies the criteria for being virtually unable to walk, but does this not come into account if she is under 5? I was about to quote "Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, Section 73" but luckily realised it mentioned being 5 or over. I thought that although it was pretty hard to qualify for the mobility element before 5 years old that it could be awarded at the higher rate. Thanks.

Hi,
Higher rate mobility can be paid from the age of 3.
Lower rate from the age of 5.
Just for the sake of detail did they provide a reason for denying the mobilty?
And has this yet gone to the appeal stage?
Was the application supported by doctors and or specialists?
On what grounds did you apply?
How far can your daughter walk now and in what manor?
I read the profile and im assuming its for your daughter with downs syndrome but the above questions are important to get a picture of whats going on and where you honestly stand
Does she suffer pain or distress or are there any behavioural issues?

Hiya, it isn't at the appeals stage at the moment I am just getting in the process of writing a letter asking for a review and have an appointment with my GP to see exactly what he wrote to them as it was just the evidence off her GP report and what had been written on her form that they based the decision on. They didn't give me any reason for why she was denied the mobility element and her care element was also down rated from higher to middle which I am also asking for a review of as her needs throughout the night have increased more if anything from when I applied when she was 1 1/2. In all honesty I think I might not have been quite as thorough in her forms as I thought I had been or I have just been unlucky with whoever looked at my form as it sometimes goes. I didn't send any statements from her physio, OT or anything like that as Shannah can physically walk and her paediatrician who's letters were included in my GP report was well aware of any physical limitation she has in that department. I did include their details though if they wanted to contact them. I''m not exactly sure what her GP wrote as he called me to say he'd been asked for information but we'd only really saw this GP a couple of times since her old one retired and I don't think he had much of a clue. He said he would write something similar to what was written in my last successful application for DLA and include the reports from her paediatrician which I thought would cover most things.

As far as mobility goes the I think she qualifies under the "virtually unable to walk criteria" due to all the behavioural problems she has stemming from her having DS. I can't take her outside at all without either carrying her or really physically restraining her which upsets her even more because she just runs off without any sense at all of danger. She has ran into roads.. everything. This is every single time I take her outdoors. If I wasn't there to carry her or pretty much drag her around then she would probably be seriously injured at best now. I use her pram whenever I can but it's a bit ridiculous as she's outgrown it now. As for distress she is scared of loud noises like cars (although oddly enough this wouldn't stop her running in front of one!) or other things like that in the street and she'll just cling to me and scream like she's absolutely terrified until I pick her up and take her away from whatever it is that is distressing her. Also she has really poor balance and coordination so she falls over all the time. For instance maybe 25 meters or less between a car and a gate she'd fallen 3 times today and this is the way it is all thetime. It's almost not worth taking her outdoors the way things are because it is so much trouble and so distressing to her.... and me!

Thing is because i'm mainly using her behavioural reasons as grounds for qualifying, as was my problem with her night time needs, I'm not sure exactly who I can get to support me. I'm going to include some statements from family and friends this time but all the health professionals I see are in hospitals or clinics so they don't see Shannah when she's walking down the street.

erm it might be that she was turned down for high rate mobility if they dropped her care to middle first as you have to have high rate care to qualify for high rate mobility if you applying under the severe behavioural side rather than the other choices.

with the running off side have u tried the backpacks you can get with a wrist link as these do seem to be popular with a lot of children and we have had one parent on here who posted a pic of her child with it and they loved having their own special backpack otherwise only way we dealt with matt when he was younger was a disabled buggy as it was easier to get from a to b and he can be a lazy bleep lol so getting pushed was preferable to walking for him

I'm not going to be applying under the actual several mental impairment/behavioural condition (do you mean this one- "You are entitled to the highest rate care component and you are
severely mentally impaired with extremely disruptive and dangerous
behavioural problems"?) which sounds odd because I said I'm using her behavioural issues as a basis for my claim but my daughter , to my understanding, can qualify under the virtually unable to walk condition because her behavioural problems stem from a physical disability i.e downs syndrome. Her care rate was dropped at the same time tho so I'm asking for both to be reviewed as it's clear to anyone who deals with her that she needs help during the night that a child without DS wouldn't.. I honestly can't see why it was dropped really as many parents I know with circumstances practically identical to my daughter's have had no problem with either the high rate care or mobility element.

Thanks for your reply.