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Consultative Examinations for SSDI and intellectual disorders

Over the past few months, this blog has gone into some of the specifics that the Social Security Administration requires when it requests a Consultative Examination (CE) for an individual applying for Social Security Disability Insurance on the basis of a mental disorder. Ohio residents who need to get a CE because of an SSDI application based on psychological disability can expect that the doctor conducting the exam will prepare a report on the person’s mental status as well as based on an examination of his or her physical, social and familial conditions.

There is a specific type of mental disability, however, that requires not only the above sections of the CE report, but another section as well. This applies to people with an “intellectual impairment.” These are people who may be behind the average curve as far as the development of certain measurable types of intelligence. People with this disadvantage may have difficulty performing work for various reasons.

When a CE report is prepared for a person with an intellectual impairment, it will contain a record of an individually administered, recognized, standardized Intelligence Quotient (IQ) test. To be a valid acceptable test for the SSA the standardized assessment must use a mean (average) score of 100, must employ a general population standard deviation of around 15, and should be scaled based on a recent representative sample of the population. It should include components related to verbal, performance and full-scale IQ.

People with intellectual disorders simply have an impairment that prevents certain cognitive functions that are generally available to the general population. Many people with these impairments are very good at certain tasks, and live fulfilling lives. They may not, however, be able to earn a living in the traditional sense. In these cases, Ohio residents applying for SSDI on the basis of intellectual impairment, or any other mental illness, may wish to consider contacting an experienced disability attorney.