Children's SSI Initiative

The Children's SSI Initiative began as a collaborative effort of the Social Security Administration (SSA), the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD) and the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD).

The project's initial work was to provide interdisciplinary assessments for children applying for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability payments. Since its initial efforts, the project expanded to include a multitude of activities directly funded by SSA to further develop partnerships between UCEDDs and state disability determination agencies (DDS).

During the initial seven years of work, over 40 Centers participated in different components of the Children's SSI Initiative. This work included efforts to: conduct interdisciplinary assessments for almost 850 infant, school age and age 18-disability claimants; prepare and present training for adjudicators at all levels of the agency; create tools and protocols for state agency decision makers; and implement collaborations with state DDS agencies.

These efforts laid the groundwork for the project's Pediatric Medical Unit (PMU) initiative to further SSA's efforts to improve the childhood disability determination process ensuring that the best decisions are made as efficiently and as early as possible for childhood disability adjudications. Through its two-year contract, that recently concluded, AUCD worked with selected member University Centers to develop, test and operate prototypes of PMUs to provide specialized clinical expertise to state and/or federal adjudicators to help them make initial decisions for childhood SSI applications or to review cases on appeal. 

SSA/AUCD: A National CollaborationSSA/AUCD: A National Collaboration