The Social Security Administration's Functional
Equivalence Domains: Moving About and Manipulating Objects
There are two pathways to obtaining the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits needed to help care for your disabled child. The most direct pathway is to get the SSA to determine that based on the medical evidence, your child's impairment (or combination of impairments) meets or medically equals one of the listings for children. Unfortunately, many children are not able to meet or equal a listing solely on the basis of medical evidence.
The second pathway to obtaining SSI benefits for your child is getting the SSA to agree that your child's impairment (or combination of impairments) functionally equals a listing.
Measuring Physical Mobility and Motor Skills
As part of its process for determining whether or not your child's impairment functionally equals a listing, the SSA will compare your child's limitations in the domain of "moving about and manipulating objects" to children of the same age who do not have impairments.
Example limitations in this domain include:
- Muscle weakness, joint stiffness or sensory loss that interferes with motor activities (for example, unintentionally drops things)
- Trouble climbing up and down stairs, jerky or disorganized locomotion or difficulty with balance
- Trouble coordinating gross motor movements (for example, bending, kneeling, crawling, running, jumping rope or riding a bicycle)
- Difficulty with sequencing hand or finger movements (for example, using utensils or manipulating buttons)
- Difficulty with fine motor movements (for example, gripping and grasping objects)
- Poor eye-hand coordination when using a pencil or scissors
If the SSA finds that your child's limitations show an "extreme deviation" (compared to other children in the same age group) it will most likely approve your claim for benefits. If your child has what the SSA calls a "marked deviation" in physical mobility or the ability to move and manipulate objects, they must also show a marked deviation in a second domain in order to qualify for benefits.
If We Don't Win, You Don't Pay Any Attorney Fees. It's Just That Simple.
At Shifrin Newman Smith Inc., you will find a team of lawyers and support professionals who have been dedicated to helping disabled adults and children in Ohio since 1985. In fact, handling claims for government disability benefits is the only thing we do. Today, as always, we work with every client who comes to our door looking for help — even if the case looks hopeless.
To learn more about the SSA's process for determining whether your child is legally disabled or SSI benefits for children, call 877-230-5500 or contact us online to make arrangements for a free consultation.
Office Locations in Akron, Cleveland and Toledo.
