SSI: Supplemental Security Income Lesson Plan

Created by Michael Bowman, 3LPlace, May 2018

Applies to: Understanding and Participating in Community

Purpose: Help members better understand what SSI (Supplemental Security Income) is and how it is intended to be used in their lives.

Objectives:

• Learn about the existence of the Social Security Administration.
• Increase awareness of the fact that students are entitled to SSI checks because of their disability status.
• Give context for visits to the Social Security Office they have taken or will have taken with their families.

Materials:

• Packet/worksheets (attached)
• Pens/pencils
• Internet enabled device (i.e. iPad)

Activity Steps:

1. Watch Social Security: The Greatest Government Policy of All Time? for brief overview.
2. Discuss President FDR’s New Deal and his efforts to provide a social safety net for Americans struggling through the Great Depression
3. Discuss the fact that each member receives an SSI check.
4. Ascertain what members may or may not know about the amount, purpose, and use of their monthly checks. 
5. As a group, read the worksheet packet together.
6. Generate questions about SSI.
7. Email individual parents or guardians with questions with the SSI questions that each member generated.