I don't think that attorney knows much about SSDI. The trial work period that SSDI allows does not happen until after you have been approved. I tried to exempt some work efforts by claiming the Back to Work trial period. No dice because it was before I got approved.

A good SSDI attorney usually only does SSDI applications. Plus, the first application that is commonly denied leads to a reapply/second application, not a appeal. The second application is sent to your state's Disability Determination Service. If that is denied, you appeal to the Social Security appeals and get a hearing before an Appeals Judge.

Regarding your attempts to return to work, you will need to add up your paychecks since your injury and divide the total by the number of months since your injury. It is OK if you made over the $1000 limit in any single month. They will use the average over the time since your injury.

Also, you should have at least some kind of journal of your experiences trying to return to work. List the struggles you had working and how long it took to recover each time.

So, get your application started.