Funding for Eva’s ADHD assessment and supporting our family

Those of you who know us, and our little family will know that we aren’t the type of people who like to ask for help. However, we are now finding ourselves in a position where we have exhausted all other options, and asking for help is our last resort.

We have been blessed with 3 beautiful children. Out eldest, Eva, has just turned 8. At the age of 3 Eva was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. At the time we were given the choice to medicate Eva, but with her behaviours at this time being easily controlled, and her only being very small, we felt this was not necessary.

Over the years Eva’s behaviours have changed significantly. She is hyperactive, impulsive, has significant sensory issues, is very physical (affectionately but can also be aggressively), and is pre-verbal (recently diagnosed with language disorder as a result of ASD), so struggles to tell us how she is feeling and what she needs. We, and the staff at Eva’s school, have realised that a lot of these traits stem from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, which often goes hand in hand with Autism.

Eva is a beautiful little girl inside and out! She loves music, singing, numbers, rainbows and adventures, but, as she is getting older, we are struggling more and more to help her progress and deal with her outbursts.

When she is over stimulated, has a build-up of excessive energy, or frustrated, her way of venting is physical. She has pulled a cupboard door from its hinges, broken a bed, pulled down a curtain rail, and hit or kicked us and her siblings. It isn’t always done in temper; her system is just overloaded, and she can’t process it.

Eva has an Education Health Care Plan in place – she loves school! She has speech and language therapy, attention bucket therapy, sensory circuits, uses ear defenders, core boards, weighted blankets, a spinning seat – we have even tried herbal medicines /patches to try and help calm Eva down and bring her some peace. All these things are to help her process what is going on in her mind and enable her to bring it out in a more constructive and calm way – but she still struggles.

Therefore, just over a year ago, we requested an ADHD assessment for Eva, which was supported by a huge amount of detail and evidence from ourselves and Eva’s school. We are hoping that medication might now help her.

Despite all this, the assessment was denied (this often happens at first, and parents must obtain yet more evidence and start again! We experienced this with our EHCP application too.) and the waiting list now is at least 18 months long.

We feel that Eva, and all of us as a family, can’t wait until she is nearly 10 years old before she is even assessed and able to access some help; therefore, we are looking at getting the assessment done privately rather than through the NHS.

At the same time as we are battling our way through this issue for Eva, we also find that her current lower rate of mobility allowance, received through Disability Living Allowance, is no longer sufficient for her needs. To help with this, we are going through the process of applying for the higher rate which, if allowed, would entitle her to Motability allowance as well.

Motability would be an incredible help to us as a family! Due to Eva’s behaviour sometimes in the car, ideally, she needs to have a proper car seat with fitted 5-point straps. At the moment, due to lack of space, she is in a seat that just uses the car seat belt and is situated between her brother and sister. If she has a physical outburst in the car she can get out of her seat, she can also hit out at her siblings and the driver. Obviously, this is very unsafe for everyone when it happens!

Our current family car is also unreliable. Last year we broke down at the side of the A14 and were stranded there with 3 children, no food and little drink for 7 hours until we were rescued! I’m sure you can imagine what that was like!

Motability would give us access to a new, 7-seater, vehicle which would be a game changer for us. However, we would need to pay an upfront charge of £3000 for that – which we just don’t have.

As we have said, we know we are asking a lot, but we can’t think of any other way to provide for our daughter and her siblings in the way that we need to at this time.

We need to raise £5000 in total which would cover the ADHD assessment, treatment plan, prescriptions and follow up appointments for Eva – and give us money to put towards the Motability scheme.

If you would like to help, we are so grateful for anything you feel that you can give.

Thank you