What evidence will the SSA require for my child disability claim?

To obtain SSI/SSDI benefits for your child, you will have to provide evidence to the Social Security Administration of your child's qualifying medical disability. Failure to do this will result in denial of your claim. Once you initiate your claim, you will be asked to sign medical release forms as part of the application process. Medical evidence must be provided by SSA-approved medical providers such as the following:

• Licensed physicians; Licensed or certified psychologists for purposes of establishing mental retardation, learning disabilities, and borderline intellectual functioning only;
• Licensed optometrists, Licensed podiatrists; and
• Qualified speech-language pathologists, for purposes of establishing speech or language impairments only.
• Other medical sources, such as physical, occupational, and rehabilitation therapists; and nonmedical sources, such as parents, teachers, and other people who know your child.

The SSA looks for the following in medical records:

• Medical evidence—General. Medical evidence of your child's impairment(s) must describe symptoms, signs, and laboratory findings.
• Formal testing that provides information about the development or functioning in terms of standard deviations, percentiles, percentages of delay, or age or grade equivalents. It may also include opinions from medical sources about the nature and severity of your child’s impairments.
• Test scores. Social Security considers all of the relevant information in your child’s case record. They do not rely on test scores alone in deciding disability.
• Medical sources – should report findings and observations on clinical examination and the results of any formal testing. Interpretations should also be based on information from parents or other people who know your child, including teachers and therapists.
• Information from other people – Information about how your child functions with the impairment will be gathered from your activities and how you function on a day-to-day basis. These other people may include, but are not limited to Your parents and other caregivers, Early intervention and preschool programs, School faculty members

Talk with an attorney to discuss how to get disability benefits for your child.