Preparing Food: The Points System

For the sake of this article, “preparing food,” means cooking a simple meal with fresh ingredients from scratch. Imagine the processes involved in cooking a basic meal; chopping and preparing ingredients, following a recipe and cooking the food. Bear this in mind when considering the points system.

• If you can cook a basic meal with no help, supervision or special aids you score zero points.
• If you need a special aid or appliance to cook, or if you can only use a microwave rather than a cooker, you score two points.
• If you need prompting to cook a meal you score two points.
• If you need help or supervision whilst cooking you score four points.
• If you cannot cook food at all, you score 8 points.

When filling in the form, you need to think about whether your autistic child would be able to cook a meal from scratch safely. Here are some things to think about. Remember that this article is aimed at autistic children so I wont be including things that might affect other disabled people, such as the deaf or those with limited mobility. There are some excellent guides online that cover ALL types of disabilities.

Safety When Preparing Food

• Does your child understand kitchen hygiene such as cross-contamination when cooking meat?
• Is your child safe around hot surfaces and would they be safe taking hot dishes out of the oven?
• Do they have the ability to use different appliances and kitchen equipment? A tin opener? A kettle? Knives?
• How is their understanding of time? Do they know that certain things require different times to cook and can they be alert to take things out of the oven at the right time so that the item is neither overcooked or undercooked?
• How would they cope in an emergency such as a fire? Would they know what to do?
• Do they understand that metal can get very hot to the touch? Do they know that metal should not go in a microwave?
• Do they understand “use by” dates and can they identify if food is bad or dangerous?
• Can they keep their work area safe and mop up spills immediately, especially floor spills?
• Can they follow written instructions such as a recipe?
• Can they cook independently or would they need someone to supervise or help them with certain stages, such as chopping vegetables?
• Are they clumsy and likely to cut or burn themselves?
• Do their sensory needs become overwhelmed when preparing food? For example, with strong smells or high temperatures?
• Do they have the multitasking skills required to do several things at once when cooking?
• Can they keep their attention on the task in hand, or does their mind wander?
• Can they tell when food is cooked?
• Would they know when to cook a meal, does their hunger signal that it is time to cook or do they need a prompt?

Filling in the Form

When filling in the form, always be accurate and specific and try and include examples if you can. The more detail you include, the better. Try and include real-life incidents. For example, I have a very dear friend who is autistic and one day she was cooking chips and got distracted. She forgot about the chip pan until she could see thick smoke coming from the kitchen. The pan caught fire and damaged part of her kitchen wall. It is useful to be able to include an incident that really happened because then the assessor can understand why a person may need a particular type of aid or supervision when cooking.

Even if you can’t recall an incident, you could try to explain what could happen in certain situations. For example, if my son were to cook unsupervised I know that he wouldn’t think to protect his hands when touching hot objects and would burn himself if unsupervised.

Try to fill the page with as much detail as you can. It may help to write a rough outline on scrap paper before filling the form in ink. Remember, if you think about other examples afterwards, you can add them on another sheet of paper and put them inside the form.

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Preparing to Fill in the PIP Form

Make yourself comfortable and aim to complete the form in short sections. This is not a race and breaking it up into manageable amounts is a sanity saver. It can help to have a file or folder containing all of your child’s relevant medical documents and letters. Personally, I never throw away any letters, I file absolutely everything, as I just don’t know when I might need it. Particularly important are letters from doctors and specialists, especially if these have lists of medication and describe the difficulties your child faces with things like practical tasks, social difficulties and communication issues. A current EHCP is also useful.

Separate and copy anything that you want to include as evidence. If some documents are similar, use the most recent one. Then go over any important points with a highlighter to make sure that they stand out. Always use copies when possible, just in case anything gets lost in the post.

Section 1: An Overview

In many ways section 1 of the PIP form is the easiest. It is where we list the health conditions and disabilities that our child is experiencing. Often with Autism, there can be various comorbidities such as ADHD, OCD, Dyslexia and so on. Each of these can be listed separately on the list, along with an approximate time of diagnosis for each.

Below this section, there is an area to list medications. Make sure you list each medication accurately, along with the dosage and frequency, as well as any side effects.

The next part of the form is to list any treatments you are currently having or have planned for the future, both NHS and private. This is where it is handy to have the folder with all the information to hand, as the form requires you to input dates for each treatment. Include therapies such as speech therapy, physio and occupational therapy appointments, as well as sessions with psychologists, paedeatrics and mental health services. Try and be as thorough and as accurate as possible filling all of these sections in.

PIP Section 2

Section 2 expands on section 1 and requires details of the various professionals involved in your child’s care. It’s best to start with your GP details first, especially as they will likely be the person that will be contacted first in relation to your claim. Clearly write the address, phone number and name and repeat this information for any other professionals that you would like to include. These should be people that can give an accurate account of your child’s disabilities if asked.

…and so we come to the end of the first section. Warning, the next part gets harder, but I’m here to hold your hand! This is probably a good time to have a rest and a cup of tea before we move on to the next section…

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