my friends daughter has scoliosis

Hi all, i am looking for advice as i have a 12 year old daughter who has suffered with scoliosis for at least a year. Now it is very severe and my daughter is having major surgery on the 24th, the operation will entail snapping her back in several places and bolting it back straight.

My daughter has to be helped constantly, even through the night as she cant sleep or get herself off the bed, Myself or my son has to help her. Now with the surgery happening i am definately going to be struggling. I have been advised to claim DLA for her. However, even after reading the advice sheets on here, the forms still make no sense to me.

So any advice on filling out these forms would be gratefully appreciated thanks xxx

Hi amanda,

When claiming DLA for children, the main thing is to show that s/he has more care and/or mobility needs than any other child of the same age.

For example, with a 4 year old child it would be no point in saying that supervision outside was needed because that would apply for any child of that age. Of course, this would not be the same for a 12 year old but I'm sure you/your friend (it is not clear from your post) can come up with examples of your own.

With DLA, the condition must be expected to last for at least another 6 months, so you will also have to show how/why the condition has not significantly improved by the forthcoming surgery.

Unlike PIP (which I know from previous posts you have been involved with), DLA is not points based so you should read the guides carefully to understand how much care might be needed for each level of the award.

DLA claims

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