If you are claiming DLA for your child, keeping a diary of their day-to-day needs can improve their chances of success. It can also be important when trying to explain needs that fluctuate either during a single day or over a longer period.

One-day diary – The simplest form of diary would be an account of your child’s needs over a typical day. Start from the time your child gets up in the morning, through a 24-hour period, ending with the time they get up the following morning. Try to list all the times when they need help from someone else and how it is different to the help needed by other children of the same age.

When you write something down, try to answer the following questions:

The information booklet that comes with the DLA claim-form gives an example of such a diary; see Box B.4 for another example.

If your child’s needs vary from day to