Observations

You highlighted today observations stopping PIP awards. I have a 21 year old son with ADHA and Autism. After an assessment recently it was noted he had no problems with memory as he can follow a three stage command. That command was the assessor saying to follow her through a door turn left then right. The point is he did not need to remember that as I followed her and he followed me. As he has a driving license they say he can plan a route which he cannot and I informed her he no longer drives due to anxiety As he passed some GCSE’s five years ago he can’t have any problems completing tasks, he took a number of attempts to pass something they didn’t ask about. They didn’t list a psychiatrist report saying he needs significant help from family. As it wasn’t listed along with other evidence I presume it wasn’t considered. He is totally isolated and we do most things for him he won’t shop or get prescriptions, we take him to hospital and GP appointments, we cook and make sure he eats he didn’t even get a point for using a dossett box for his medication which was noted in report. He scored only 4 points 2 for using a yellow overlay for reading and 2 for communication. Also assessor has listed her profession as nurse I asked her did she have experience of ADHD and Autism she said she did but how do I know this is true. I now have the daunting task of putting together a reconsideration as I do feel he should have qualified a care award and the lower mobility as he cannot plan a journey or use public transport. Also they keep mentioning he has insight into his condition as if should go against him. He is intelligent so why shouldn’t he understand his condition it doesn’t mean he doesn’t have the problems associated with these conditions.
He is also on 72mg of Ritalin. It was 18 then 36 now 72 is this a high dose it wasn’t in the report it had been significantly increased. As he holds driving license he can manage complex budgeting decisions which he cannot. He no longer drives as a diversion will make him come home he wants to park in same parking space when he goes anywhere, He id very anxious as his condition has worsened over last couple of years. Any comments may help with my reconsideration for him

Hi Lorraine,

Thankyou for posting your experience of your son's assessment. It is very worrying that they are using memory questions to assume cognitive functioning.

My son is 21 and his strength is his working memory. He would definitely be able to follow the door instruction you gave. Im sure he would . He hasnt got the cognitive ability to drive as his processing is very slow due to difficulty co ordinating visual and motor responses. That is noted on the reports i included but will they even take that into account i wonder.

My son also is starting to show insight into his abilities and can look quite able until you scratch beneath the surface. He uses his memory to learn set sequences and tasks and then can look able on learned tasks.

But doesnt generalise that to new learning. He can go on a bus himself. Just one set route. It took almost a year to learn. You dont realise how many steps there are in learning to board a bus until you try to teach someone who needs help at every stage.

He had been going well on the bus for quite a few months when my husband went to pick him up at the park and ride from his return journey. The bus came in but he didnt get off.

My husband had to follow the bus quite a way down the motorway to its next stop and get on the bus to get our son.

We had never thought to teach him how to get off the bus!! He had managed up until that time because other passengers had been getting off and the bus had stopped. This time, the bus didnt stop.

If you saw my son on the bus, you wouldnt know he had any problem at all. He looks completely normal.

As you well know, it is only when you live with someone you fully appreciate and know the full story and the extent of the difficulties they face with every aspect of daily life.

I just wanted to say that you are not alone and that i hope you see this through to an end point where you win what your son needs and deserves.

Please keep us updated on your story. We are at the beginning stage of a dla to pip transfer claim but i wouldnt be at all surprised if i am posting a very similar story to yours after my son has his f2f.


All the very best.

Thankyou for your comments on the day of assessment I had driven half way to the assessment centre when I asked him if he had his I.D and bank card which he did not so I had to go home and get to the centre in half an hour when the Journey was an hour so you can imagine my stress I had telephoned and was told they would not see him without I.D. My fault as I had forgot to remind him proving he cannot be relied upon to remember things. He was asked if he used public transport to which he replied yes. I nearly fell off my chair because he doesn’t. When did you use public transport I asked him. He thought about the question for a while and answered in his usual very controlled precise way “well I had just left school so I must have been about 16”. He’s 21 now. I had to laugh but it’s typical of Chris and gives an insight to how his brain is working. As he explained to the assessor he is often confused when people ask him questions as he doesn’t always understand what they mean. It’s so difficult to get someone to understand how he functions in an hour interview