The two largest mental impairment categories - attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and speech delay - grew by 6 and 12 percent, respectively. The third-largest such category is children who qualified based on autism spectrum disorder, and that grew by 13 percent in the past year.
US Representative Richard Neal, a Democrat from Springfield and an outspoken critic of the program, said the new data reinforce his belief that the children’s SSI program, although it helps many low-income families who have children with serious impairments, may be evolving into a loosely run alternative welfare system. He said veteran school officials in Springfield and other poor urban areas continue to complain to him that many indigent families face incentives to label their children disabled, or to put them on psychotropic drugs, “simply to secure the benefits.’’
Earlier this year, in response to a three-part Globe series on the program, Neal joined Senator Scott Brown and a top member of the US House Ways and Means Committee in calling for an investigation by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress. A full report may be ready this year.
The commissioner of the Social Security Administration, Michael Astrue, in a meeting with the Globe in late May, described the children’s SSI program as seriously flawed and urged Congress to fund a proposed $10 million study by the Institute of Medicine, the nonprofit health research branch of the National Academy of Sciences.
“I continue to believe the evidence that has been uncovered demands that the Institute of Medicine undergo a careful analysis,’’ said Neal, who has also called for a public hearing.
The Globe series last December showed soaring rates of children with behavioral, mental, and learning disorders in the program, which began in 1972 largely to serve children with congenital and physical disabilities, such as cerebral palsy and Down syndrome.
