Children's Benefit Claims

Proving SSI Disability Claims for Children in Texas

Just as adults can qualify for supplemental security income (SSI) payments on the basis of financial need and proof of a recognized impairment, children can qualify for SSI disability benefits as well. Not only can your child qualify for monthly payments to help meet the expenses generated by a chronic health problem, developmental disability or behavioral disorder, but your child will also become eligible for Medicaid benefits.

Contact an experienced SSI disability attorney at the Law Offices of Ed Goldner in San Antonio for a free consultation about your child's eligibility for supplemental security income benefits. These monthly payments can be a godsend for low-income families with a child who has any one of a number of extreme physical or mental impairments, such as Down Syndrome, total blindness or amputation of a leg at the hip. Proof of any of these extreme impairments will generally establish the child's eligibility for SSI disability benefits.

Alternatively, eligibility can be established by showing that the child has a severe or marked limitation of function in one or more developmental areas:

• Acquiring and using information
• Attending and completing tasks
• Interacting and relating with others
• Moving about and manipulating objects
• Caring for oneself
• Health and physical well-being

If the limitation is severe, then a diagnosis of a problem in one of these six areas will usually be enough to establish the child's eligibility for SSI benefits. If the limitation is "marked" — unmistakable, but not quite severe — then a problem must be diagnosed in at least two of the listed areas.

Examples of the kinds of conditions that can cause problems for children and teens are the following: learning disabilities, anorexia, behavioral problems, emotional problems, attention deficit disorder, obesity, severe allergies or asthma and diabetes.

For a free consultation about your child's eligibility for SSI disability benefits and the right to Medicaid coverage that goes along with them, contact an experienced Social Security disability claims attorney at the Law Offices of Ed Goldner in San Antonio.