Getting Disability Insurance Benefits if you Have Developmental Aphasia

Developmental aphasia is a disability affecting language skills caused by brain damage such as a birth injury, a stroke, head trauma, brain tumors or infection.  It usually involves a complete or a partial inability to understand or formulate word or use words in sentences and often presents in addition to other mental and physical disorders such as apraxia and other primary sensory deficits.  Partial aphasia is referred to as dysphasia and apraxia is an inability to carry out purposeful body movements.

Getting Social Security Disability Program Benefits

Most people seeking to access disability benefits for developmental aphasia should begin by filing an application with a Social Security administered program such as Supplemental Security Income or Social Security Disability Insurance program.  The disability eligibility medical requirements are the same in both programs but the specific program eligibility requirements are different.  The disability medical eligibility requirements in both programs are different in terms of evaluating a disability claim for an adult and for a child.  The adult’s developmental aphasia claim will be evaluated by the Disability Determination Service of the Social Security program he applied to for benefits invoking a review of the severity of the aphasia as it affects the adult applicant’s ability to engage in gainful employment.  The child applicant’s developmental aphasia disability will be reviewed to determine the level of his ability to perform daily functioning tasks compared with non-disabled children of his same age to measure the severity of his disability.

Recognized Social Security Sensory Disabilities

The Social Security administration recognizes certain disabilities contained on List A for an adult and List B for disabled children.  Developmental aphasia would be recognized under more than one general category on both lists.  It could be recognized under the “Special Senses and Speech” category because it adversely affects speech but it could also fit under other recognized categories such as “Neurological” for the reason that the condition is caused by a brain injury and “Impairments that Effect Body Systems” and “Mental Disorders.”  The more recognized the disability and resultant disorders are the more likely the disability will be approved for benefits if full medically substantiation is provided.

Getting Legal Help

If you or a member of your family has been diagnosed with a developmental aphasia and is interested in submitting an application for benefits with a Social Security administered program it may be helpful to discuss the circumstances of the disability, the available programs and applications and the program requirements needed to evidence a developmental aphasia disability with a disability lawyer.