Knowledge and Nudges: Increasing Educational Achievement Among Disabled Youth

Supplemental Security Income (SSI), administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA), provides $10 billion annually in cash welfare to the families of 1.4 million low-income, disabled children, 10% of the youth living in poverty in the United States. The majority of SSI youth are diagnosed with a mental and behavioral condition other than intellectual disability, such as ADHD, speech delay, or autism spectrum disorder. SSI youth with these conditions have a high school drop-out rate of 45 percent (Hemmeter et al. 2009). Low achievement translates into poor life outcomes: in previous work, Deshpande (2016a), co-PI of this project, finds that SSI youth who are removed from the program at age 18 have average annual earnings of just $4,000 in adulthood, with minimal earnings growth over time. Based on our prior research and extensive discussions with professionals who work with SSI families, we believe there are two key features of the policy and institutional environments that contribute to these poor educational—and, ultimately, life—outcomes.