Citations:

20 CFR 416.924a

BASIC (01-01)

Citations:

20 CFR 416.924a(a)

A. Policy - general

We consider all relevant information (i.e., evidence) in your case record. The evidence in your case record may include information from medical sources, such as your pediatrician, other physician, psychologist, or qualified speech-language pathologist; other medical sources not listed in DI 22505.003A., such as physical, occupational, and rehabilitation therapists; and nonmedical sources, such as your parents, teachers, and other people who know you.

B. Policy – medical evidence

1. General

Medical evidence of your impairment(s) must describe symptoms, signs, and laboratory findings. The medical evidence may include, but is not limited to, formal testing that provides information about your development or functioning in terms of standard deviations, percentiles, percentages of delay, or age or grade equivalents. It may also include opinions from medical sources about the nature and severity of your impairments. (See DI 24503.005.)

2. Test scores

We consider all of the relevant information in your case record and will not consider any single piece of evidence in isolation. Therefore, we will not rely on test scores alone when we decide whether you are disabled. (See DI 25225.020D. for more information about how we consider test scores.)

3. Medical Sources

Medical sources will report their findings and observations on clinical examination and the results of any formal testing. A medical source's report should note and resolve any material inconsistencies between formal test results, other medical findings, and your usual functioning. Whenever possible and appropriate, the interpretation of findings by the medical source should reflect consideration of information from your parents or other people who know you, including your teachers and therapists. When a medical source has accepted and relied on such information to reach a diagnosis, we may consider this information to be a clinical sign, as defined in DI 24501.020.

C. Policy – information from other people

Every child is unique, so the effects of your impairment(s) on your functioning may be very different from the effects the same impairment(s) might have on another child. Therefore, whenever possible and appropriate, we will try to get information from people who can tell us about the effects of your impairment(s) on your activities and how you function on a day-to-day basis. These other people may include, but are not limited to:

1. Your parents and other caregivers

Your parents and other caregivers can be important sources of information because they usually see you every day. In addition to your parents, other caregivers may include a childcare provider who takes care of you while your parent(s) works or an adult who looks after you in a before- or after-school program.

2. Early intervention and preschool program

If you have been identified for early intervention services (in your home or elsewhere) because of your impairment(s), or if you attend a preschool program (e.g., Headstart or a public school kindergarten for children with special needs), these programs are also important sources of information about your functioning. We will ask for reports from the agency and individuals who provide you with services or from your teachers about how you typically function compared to other children your age who do not have impairments.

3. School

If you go to school, we will ask for information from your teachers and other school personnel about how you are functioning there on a day-to-day basis compared to other children your age who do not have impairments. We will ask for any reports that the school may have that show the results of formal testing or that describe any special education instruction or services, including home-based instruction, or any accommodations provided in a regular classroom.