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6422 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 28 / Tuesday, February 11, 1997 / Rules and Regulationsimpairments that is severe. If yourimpairment(s) is not severe, we willdetermine that you are not disabled andnot review your claim further. If yourimpairment(s) is severe, we will reviewyour claim further to see if you have animpairment(s) that meets, medicallyequals, or functionally equals in severityany impairment that is listed inappendix 1 of subpart P of part 404 ofthis chapter. If you have such animpairment(s), and it meets the durationrequirement, we will find that you aredisabled. If you do not have such animpairment(s), or if it does not meet theduration requirement, we will find thatyou are not disabled.* * * * *(c) You must have a severeimpairment(s). If your impairment(s) isa slight abnormality or a combination ofslight abnormalities that causes no morethan minimal functional limitations, wewill find that you do not have a severeimpairment(s) and are, therefore, notdisabled.(d) Your impairment(s) must meet,medically equal, or functionally equalin severity a listed impairment inappendix 1. An impairment(s) causesmarked and severe functionallimitations if it meets or medicallyequals in severity the set of criteria foran impairment listed in the Listing ofImpairments in appendix 1 of subpart Pof part 404 of this chapter, or if it isfunctionally equal in severity to a listedimpairment.(1) Therefore, if you have animpairment(s) that is listed in appendix1, or is medically or functionally equalin severity to a listed impairment, andthat meets the duration requirement, wewill find you disabled.(2) If your impairment(s) does notmeet the duration requirement, or doesnot meet, medically equal, orfunctionally equal in severity a listedimpairment, we will find that you arenot disabled.(3) We explain our rules for decidingwhether an impairment(s) meets alisting in § 416.925. Our rules for howwe decide whether an impairment(s)medically equals a listing are set forthin § 416.926. Our rules for decidingwhether an impairment(s) functionallyequals a listing are set forth in§ 416.926a.(e) If you attain age 18 after you fileyour disability application but before wemake a determination or decision. Forthe period during which you are underage 18, we will evaluate whether youare disabled using the rules in thissection. For the period starting with theday you attain age 18, we will evaluatewhether you are disabled using thedisability rules we use for adults filingnew claims, in § 416.920.* * * * *(g) How we will explain our findings.When we make an initial orreconsidered determination whetheryou are disabled under this section orwhether your disability continues under§ 416.994a (except when a disabilityhearing officer makes thereconsideration determination), we willcomplete a standard form, Form SSA–538, Childhood Disability EvaluationForm. The form outlines the steps of thesequential evaluation process forindividuals who have not attained age18. In these cases, the State agencymedical or psychological consultant (see§ 416.1016) or other designee of theCommissioner has overall responsibilityfor the content of the form and mustsign the form to attest that it is completeand that he or she is responsible for itscontent, including the findings of factand any discussion of supportingevidence. Disability hearing officers,administrative law judges, and theadministrative appeals judges on theAppeals Council (when the AppealsCouncil makes a decision) will notcomplete the form but will indicatetheir findings at each step of thesequential evaluation process in theirdeterminations or decisions.15. Section 416.924a is amended byremoving paragraph (a)(4), redesignatingparagraph (a)(5) as paragraph (a)(4),removing paragraph (b), redesignatingparagraphs (c) and (d) as paragraphs (b)and (c), revising the third sentence ofparagraph (a) introductory text, revisingparagraph (a)(2), revising the firstsentence of paragraph (a)(3), revising thefirst sentence of redesignated paragraph(b) introductory text, and revisingredesignated paragraphs (c)(1) and (c)(4)to read as follows:§ 416.924a Age as a factor of evaluation inchildhood disability.(a) * * * However, your age is alwaysan important factor when we decidewhether your impairment(s) is severe(see § 416.924(c)). * * *(2) The Listing of Impairments inappendix 1 of subpart P of part 404 ofthis chapter contains examples ofimpairments that we consider of suchsignificance that they cause marked andsevere functional limitations. Therefore,we will usually decide whether yourimpairment meets a listing withoutgiving special consideration to your age.However, several listings are dividedinto age categories. If the listingappropriate for evaluating yourimpairment includes such agecategories, we will evaluate yourimpairment under the criteria for yourage when we decide whether yourimpairment meets that listing.(3) When we compare an unlistedimpairment with a listed impairment todetermine whether you have animpairment(s) that medically orfunctionally equals the severity of alisting, the way in which we consideryour age will depend on the listing weuse for comparison. * * *(b) Correcting chronological age ofpremature infants. We generally usechronological age (that is, a child’s agebased on birth date) when we decidewhether, or the extent to which, aphysical or mental impairment orcombination of impairments causesfunctional limitations. * * ** * * * *(c) * * *(1) We recognize that how a particularchild adapts to an impairment(s)depends on many factors (e.g., thenature and severity of theimpairment(s), the child’s temperament,the quality of adult intervention, andthe child’s age at onset of theimpairment(s)). By adapting to animpairment, we mean the child’s abilityto learn those skills, habits, or behaviorsthat allow the child to compensate forthe impairment(s) and, thus, to functionas well as possible despite theimpairment(s). Therefore, our disabilitydetermination will consider how youare adapting to your impairment(s) andthe extent to which you are able tofunction as set forth in this section and§§ 416.924 and 416.924c.* * * * *(4) As children approach adulthood—that is, by about age 16—the functionalabilities, skills, and behaviors that areappropriate for them are those that arealso appropriate for adults. Olderadolescents generally also share withthe youngest adults the same abilities toadapt to work-related activities despitea severe impairment(s). By the age ofadolescence, children have developedbasic physical skills and behaviors, sothat impairments occurring inadolescence may not have thecumulative interactive effects onfunctioning that impairments occurringin infancy and early childhood do.(However, as set forth in paragraph(c)(1) of this section, we also recognizethat adolescents may experience avariety of impairments with differenteffects on their functioning. Forinstance, a child born with adegenerative disorder will experience aworsening of its effects as he or shegrows older so that functioning may bemore limited for the older child than itis for a younger child with the sameillness or disorder.)