Share you SSI experiences please

The only thing I would advise you is, be prepared to jump through a LOT of hoops. My youngest dd has been getting SSI for years and has several diagnosed disabilities, and they just seem bent on making it as difficult as possible. When we first went to apply, she had just been diagnosed as totally blind (she was 3 months old). They made us answer tons of questions like: "Can she see your face?" "Can she see a toy 6 inches in front of her?" It was horrible to have to keep saying, "No because she's blind".

I have had a couple of good workers there who seem very nice, but the system is not set up for them to be nice. Just be prepared, have all the information you could ever need ready, and don't let them make you feel like a bad person for applying for help. I am also in MA, so if you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

My daughter is severely delayed in all areas, and we applied for SSI in September. We had to fill out several rounds of paper work, and were told by her therapists that we wouldn't get it the first time. She doesn't have a diagnosis.

We had a phone interview, and then were sent to a psychologist to test her cognitive abilities. Within a few weeks, we were approved. We didn't have to reeapply.

We just found out our dd was approved. She was born in July, we applied in August, had our phone interview in Sept and just got approved!
We now have to go open two bank accounts for her. One for her monthly checks and one because they go back to when you had your first interview( I think ) so they "owe" us more then $4000 but here (not sure if it is the same in every state) they won't give you a lump sum to just spend so the other acct is for this big amount and we can't ever add any money to this acct and we have to get approved to spend any $ out of it.
My dd is a twin and they were born early due to TTTS twin to twin transfusion syndrome. Eleanore, the one who will get SSI, was the donor baby and had severe brain bleeds and has lots of challenges.
Mindi

We applied online in January, had the phone interview right away, and SS sent us to a psychologist for their own evaluation last week. I think they have 3 or 4 months to approve or dissapprove the initial application, so I expect to know in the next few weeks. As I don't have a medical dx for Ds yet, it is all based on learning disabilities. The psychologist told me he will use terms like "significantly delayed" and "interferes with daily functioning" in his report, so it sounds like it may go through without medical support. But I thought I saw somewhere that the IQ cut-off is <70 for benefits - Ds tests at 78. Does anyone know about this? I am trying to get an appointment with a developmental pediatrician, but the process is slow.