ALJ Agrees Claimant Meets 12.05B
June 14, 2010
Author: Catherine M. Callery (Kate)| Louise M. Tarantino
Buffalo Bruce Caulfield, paralegal at Neighborhood Legal Services, convinced an ALJ to award benefits to his client under Listing 12.05D for mental retardation. The record, as Bruce pointed out, contained ample evidence of the claimant’s long standing cognitive impairment and diminished adaptive functioning. In fact, an SSA consultative examiner (CE) diagnosed him in 2008 with mild mental retardation, with IQ scores ranging from 54 to 64. The CE had specifically found that these results were considered to be a reliable and valid estimate of his current functioning.
A non-examining review physician for DDD (Division of Disability Determinations) nonetheless found the results of the CE’s examination to be a low estimate of the claimant’s current intellectual functioning. The review psychologist based his conclusion at least in part on school records from 1997 yielding a composite IQ of 70.
Bruce pointed out to the ALJ that the review psychologist’s reliance a Stanford-Binet score of 70 obtained when the claimant was only thirteen years old flew in the face of POMS DI 24515.055. According to that section, test results obtained at younger ages are less reliable and valid than results obtained at older ages. The section also points out that IQs tend to stabilize at age sixteen.
This, and Bruce’s other cogent arguments, convinced the ALJ that there was no question that the claimant met the listing. Bruce acknowledges the help he got from the DAP listserv in formulating his arguments. Bruce’s experience also underscores the importance of paying attention to – and then refuting – the rationale used by DDD to deny claims. Great work, Bruce!
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