Listing 12.05
Intellectual disorder
This listing covers intellectual disability — significantly below-average intellectual functioning with major deficits in everyday (adaptive) skills, starting before age 22.
Read the full plain-language explanation
It has two alternative paths: paragraph A (for people too limited to take standardized IQ tests, who depend on others for personal care) or paragraph B (based on IQ scores of about 70 or below plus serious functional limits). Only one path, A or B, is needed.
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What Listing 12.05 asks for
What SSA looks for — see the 2 items
We will check your records against each of these. Every item comes straight from SSA's own listing.
- Path A (all three parts needed): you cannot function well enough to even take a standardized IQ test
- You depend on others for basic personal needs like eating, dressing, or bathing
- The evidence shows the disorder began before age 22. This path is an alternative to path B — only one is needed.
Read the original wording
Path A (all three parts needed): you cannot function well enough to even take a standardized IQ test; you depend on others for basic personal needs like eating, dressing, or bathing; and the evidence shows the disorder began before age 22. This path is an alternative to path B — only one is needed.
(Listing 12.05, criterion A)
- Path B (all three parts needed): a full-scale IQ score of 70 or below — or 71-75 with a verbal or performance score of 70 or below — on a properly administered standardized test
- Plus an 'extreme' limit in one or 'marked' (serious) limit in two of the four everyday mental functioning areas
- Plus evidence the disorder began before age 22. Only one path, A or B, is needed.
Read the original wording
Path B (all three parts needed): a full-scale IQ score of 70 or below — or 71-75 with a verbal or performance score of 70 or below — on a properly administered standardized test; plus an 'extreme' limit in one or 'marked' (serious) limit in two of the four everyday mental functioning areas; plus evidence the disorder began before age 22. Only one path, A or B, is needed.
(Listing 12.05, criterion B)
How long it must last:
No listing-specific duration language beyond the requirement that the disorder began before age 22; the general 12-month duration requirement applies.