The Concept
DLA care component considers day and night needs separately:
Daytime care
Help needed during waking hours with:
- Personal care (washing, dressing, toileting)
- Preparing and eating food
- Taking medication
- Supervision to avoid danger
- Communication support
Night-time care
Help needed during sleeping hours:
- Prolonged attention (20+ minutes of awake attention)
- Repeated attention (2+ times needing attention)
- Watching over to avoid danger
How They're Assessed
Day and night needs are considered separately for the care component:
| Rate | Day Needs | Night Needs |
|---|---|---|
| Lower | Some help for a significant portion of the day | — |
| Middle | Frequent help throughout the day OR continual supervision | — |
| Higher | Day AND night needs | Prolonged or repeated attention, or watching over |
Night needs alone can add to the rate. A child with middle rate day needs plus night needs may qualify for higher rate.
Describing Day Needs
Be specific about frequency and duration:
"Needs prompting to dress every morning — takes 45 minutes with constant verbal guidance. Cannot sequence tasks independently. Same-age sibling dresses in 10 minutes without help."
"Needs supervision during meals — will not eat without prompting, chokes if unsupervised due to eating too quickly. Mealtimes take 30-40 minutes with support."
Describing Night Needs
Specify how often, how long, and what help is needed:
"Wakes 3-4 times per night. Each waking requires 15-20 minutes to settle — needs physical presence, reassurance, sometimes water or repositioning. Total night-time attention: 45-80 minutes."
"Needs checking every 2 hours due to seizure risk. Parent sleeps in same room. Without monitoring, seizures have been missed resulting in hospital admission."
What Aubis Does
Aubis DLA asks about both day and night needs separately:
- What happens during the day?
- What happens at night?
- How often?
- How long each time?
- How does this compare to a same-age child?
It captures the numbers decision-makers need.
Aubis scribes. You decide.