Isn't that her opinion, and what's a high IQ got to do with major depression, I didn't try hard to get that. I wish I had refused to take that test. If they don't accept that score, how can I legally challenge their rationale? It's amazing, 36 straight years of working, now I'm perceived as a cheat.

It is the examiner's opinion, but the court recognizes her as an expert, so they value that opinion very highly. Since you haven't been tested by your own docs, there is no test to compare this one against.

(When my son took an IQ test in elementary school, it came back lower than expected, and it turned out he had missed an entire page. He gained 40+ points when retested. Mistakes happen.)

You could have an IQ in the genius range and still receive SSDI for depression. The problem is if there is a question that you purposefully lowered your IQ score, than it would also make sense if you exaggerated your depression as well.

Please ask your attorney if retesting is needed while you still have time to do something about it.

"Because if a consultative physician or mental health professional suspects that you are not giving an honest portrayal of the limitations caused by your mental condition, your claim stands a good likelihood of being denied. And once there is a notation of malingering in your disability case file, it will be hard to win your disability claim if you have to use the Social Security disability appeal process."

http://www.disabilitysecrets.com/dne...ty-mental.html

BTW, refusing to take tests or cooperate in evaluations ordered by SS is considered a sign of malingering, so that would have been just as bad.

That's just it Lit, take away what she said about that test, she firmly believes I have major depressive disorder, which as my attorney says, that's what we were looking for. I have been treated for depression since 1998, but kept working until 2006, because I was missing on average about 60 days a year due to my depression. So for 16 years I have been malingering.

Obviously you were not attempting to set yourself up for SSDI benefits 16 years ago by seeking help for your depressive order.

The question the ALJ might ask is, since you've been struggling to receive SSDI benefits since 2006, did you purposefully underperform on your IQ test? If she decides that you were malingering about your IQ, she would then question if you exaggerated the severity of your depression as well.

If this is the less experienced attorney, and you haven't spoken with the senior attorney about if you need to be retested, than I encourage you to write to the senior attorney asap.

Malingering: Why SSA Must Proceed With Caution
Malingering is defined as pretending or exaggerating incapacity or illness as to avoid duty or work (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/malingering). People may malinger for a variety of secondary gain motives, which may include financial compensation, avoiding work, school or military service, obtaining prescription drugs, or simply to attract attention or sympathy. Malingering presents a problem for SSA when it comes to determining disability, however, SSA must be careful about how possible malingering is investigated.
In the past, ALJs had the option to order tests from Disability Determination Services (DDS) to determine whether a claimant is malingering. The most widely-used tests were the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) and the Rey Memory Test.
The TOMM is a 50 item visual recognition test. It is specifically tailored to be sensitive to malingering while at the same time, insensitive to a wide range of neurological impairments, such as traumatic brain injury and dementia. The test consists of two learning trials and an optional retention trial. The results are based on two cut-off scores: below chance and criteria based on head-injured and cognitively impaired individuals. The examiner uses the TOMM manual to evaluate the results.
The Rey Memory test was devised by Andre Rey. It consists of the examiner showing the claimant a page of items for 10 seconds and instructing them to memorize 15 items. After the page is taken away, the claimant would then be asked to re-produce as many of the items as possible either immediately or after a short delay.
Beginning January of 2012, SSA ordered DDS to deny ALJ requests for malingering tests. This is an important step for claimants and their representatives, due to the fact that these tests were entirely too subjective. A claim would be completely denied by the ALJ if the state examiner conducting the TOMM or Rey Memory Test felt the claimant was malingering based on the test results. There is no set “gold standard” for malingering that can be used across the board, making the use of these tests unfair. In the audit report Consultative Exams at the Indiana Disability Determination Bureau, the Inspector General stated: “[y]ou cannot prove malingering with tests; there is no test that, when passed or failed, conclusively determines the presence of inaccurate patient self-report. Even a high likelihood of malingering does not preclude severe limitations resulting from a genuine MDI (Medically Determined Impairment).” (please see http://oig.ssa.gov/sites/default/fil...5-10-21061.pdf for the complete audit report)
While it is important for SSA to discover a malingering claimant as quickly as possible, this cannot be done with one Consultative Exam alone. The combination of medical records, observations of the claimant, as well as any consultative exams, is what SSA should be looking to in order to evaluate malingering.
Written by Anna Westfall & Attorney Andrew November


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I was already familiar with that information. SS no longer tests specifically for malingering, because the tests themselves were unreliable. This doesn't mean that SS ignores evidence of malingering though.

There is no way to know beforehand how the ALJ will react to that report. I personally wouldn't gamble that she'll overlook it, but if you want to ignore the issue and wait for your hearing, that's up to you.

Let's say I take same test, same results, now what? I took shorter version of test in 2009, CE never questioned my effort, pretty much same results. My credibility has never been issue, appeals council remand order doesn't even call for that, they want is it mild, moderate, severe. To take that part of the CE exam and overlook everything else, is to me cherrypicking a report, and looking for reasons to deny me.

I don't think it matters what the results are, so long as the issue of malingering doesn't come up again. I guess if they are that low again and without the malingering you should automatically qualify, but you should qualify based upon the depression, so it shouldn't matter if you test higher.

I asked you before if you had been tested and you said you hadn't?

Did you fill out either your first or second application by yourself or did you need help?

Binder and Binder have been with me every step of the way, I wonder if that's why my attorney wants my physchiatrist to fill out 8 page report, since she's a treating source over years. One thing that's gone unnoticed, my eyesight has gotten bad, just had cataract surgery in one eye, and other eye is going bad, have special glasses for reading. By the way, I was given physical and mental CE in 2009.