Q: I have a 15-year-old son with severe attention deficit disorder. He is on Medicaid but gets no other assistance. I have a friend with a disabled daughter who also is getting Medicaid from the state, but her daughter also receives monthly SSI disability benefits from Social Security. Can my son get SSI from Social Security? If he can, would that impact any Social Security benefits he might be due later in his life?

A: SSI stands for Supplemental Security Income. It's a federal welfare program managed for the government by the Social Security Administration. SSI pays a small monthly stipend to the elderly poor and to low-income disabled people, including children.

Simply put, your son would qualify for SSI if he is disabled enough and if you are poor enough.

So, how disabled is disabled enough? Essentially, the law says your son must have a physical or mental impairment that is so severe that, if he was old enough to work, the disability would prevent him from holding a job. And another way the law could classify your son as disabled is if he has an impairment that prevents him from functioning as a healthy child of 15 normally would.

I should also point out that usually, if your son's condition can be treated with drugs or other therapies, he might not be classified as disabled.

But the only way you will ever know if your son's condition is severe enough to be considered disabling for SSI purposes is to complete an SSI application with the Social Security Administration.

And how would SSA decide if you are poor enough for your son to qualify for SSI? In a nutshell, your family's income and assets must be below certain limits. Unfortunately, I can't give you those limits because they vary from state to state, and they also depend on the size of your family.

You said your son is getting Medicaid from the state. Medicaid also is a welfare program and has eligibility rules similar to SSI. So my hunch is you have a pretty good chance of getting your son on SSI. As soon as you can, contact your local Social Security office to set up an appointment to file for SSI. You can call them at (800) 772-1213.

And if your son qualifies for SSI disability, those payments would in no way impact any Social Security benefits he might eventually be due as an adult.

Q: I am the mother of a little girl who was born with Down syndrome. I've heard about SSI, but my husband makes too much money so we don't qualify for that. But can our daughter get disability benefits through regular Social Security?

A: The regular Social Security program does not pay benefits to disabled children, per se. But any child, whether disabled or not, qualifies for monthly dependent's benefits on the account of a parent who is getting Social Security benefits, or on the account of a deceased parent. So, if you or your husband were retired and on Social Security, or if one of you were getting Social Security disability benefits, then your daughter would get a monthly dependent's check from Social Security. Or if one of you were to die, your daughter would get survivor's benefits.

In other words, as long as both you and your husband are living and not retired and not disabled yourselves, your daughter would not be eligible for any monthly benefits from Social Security.

To find out more about Tom Margenau and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.