It depends. Autism does fit into the Developmental Disabilities category of SSI. However, the person has to have a tested IQ of 59 or below OR a score on the Vineland II adaptive test of 69 or below. ALSO, most states consider the parents' income when determining eligibility if the child is under age 18 (you have to check your state to see if they just considere your CHILD's income). In determining income eligibility, they also consider the size of the family and whether or not other children have disabilities. That's why it's impossible just to get an income cut-off number ahead of time. In NY, where I live, a family generally has to have yearly income of less than ,000 to qualify, from what I've heard. However, there is another exception. The Katy Beckett Waiver. It may be called various things in various states, but it means the child's disabilty is SO severe that getting SSI services would help prevent the child from being hospitalized. In NY, this waiver automatically applies to a child who has been hospitalized for at least 30 days in a row at any time in his life. So kids who were hospitalized as preemies qualify. ALso, kids who have been hospitalized for psyche reasons (a common thing in older ASD kids, or even ASD kids as young as 5).
The truth is that if you will use this money to "sock away for the future," the chances are your income is too high to qualify in most states. The day your child turns 18, she can apply for SSI on her own and will get it as long as he meets the criteria above (medical diagnosis under the Pervasive Developmental Disorders category, plus have those scores mentioned above).
I say just apply. Every state is so different so it is impossible for anyone to tell you what the outcome will be. Our daughter was approved based on parent income and limits in what we could own. (assets) (the limits are not that small--here in Florida, anyway) She was diagnosed autistic. She is severe but SSI didn't ask that. Being diagnosed with autistim was good enough for them.
Just try. You might be surprised, and get a bit of extra help.
*edited to add: I just saw Tzoya's part about IQ. The social security office never asked what her IQ was. So, see how states differ? Call and make an appt.
i know alot of ppl say 90% or around that are turned down the first time but i would like to say that i applied 3 seperate times (son, daughter and me) and we never had a problem or got turned down at all. I just made sure i had every drop of paper work i could get my hands on and most definetly everything that was recent and took it with me. you never know what you will qualify for until you apply and see.I think with very small children, the "being seen by their psychologist" part counts for getting an IQ level (estimated by the psychologist or actually thru a test he gives) and/or a FUNCTIONAL level, which is why all the questions about things like toileting. The Vineland II I mentioned is an "adaptive test" which GIVES the functional levels in a standard score. For very young children, the assessment that their either have low intelligence (estimated IQ) or low functional skills (estimated adaptive score) might be able to be made by the SSI psychologist when a formal test cannot be given or they don't want to give one. I fully agree that the way each state makes the determination differs, but they HAVE to include some sort of assessment of how a child is held back by his disability or it's not disabling, by definition. From what I've been told, 90% of applicants are turned down the first time they apply, so it's good to apply over and over again. And it's CERTAINLY true that it's far easier in some states than others. Good luck.
Hello, everyone. Newby here.
I have a 11 yr old son who is highly-functioning autistic. Although he is in a typical classroom and is very social, I worry that he will not be able to support himself in his adult years. My husband and I are quite happy to have him live with us for the rest of our lives if necessary, but I wonder what will happen to him after we're gone. This is on my mind more and more, as I see him struggling to follow directions that include more than 3 or 4 steps. Any kind of real employment that will allow him to be self-sufficient will involve more responsibility than I'm afraid he'll be able to handle. Hopefully not, but we must plan for the worst case scenario. A family member recently asked me if Nick was receiving aid, and I said no. I was sure that our household income was too high to allow for anything. But, the more I think about it, it would be nice to receive anything that we could sock away for his future. Please advise.
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