In addition to getting payments going back to your application date, you can get up to 12 months of retroactive payments for the year prior to your application date (or your protective filing date, discussed below) -- if you were disabled that long ago.
Characters will receive one specialization point at level 7 and another at level 14. Specialization points can be saved for later levels or used mid-level (the Level Up button on the stats sheet will be active if there are unspent specialization points).
Use of a class mod may give a character an effective rank in a skill of greater than 5. If a mistake is made while investing skill points, or another build is desired, money can be spent at a New-U Station to respec (redistribute) a character's skill points. Upon purchasing a respec, all skills are reset, including the Action Skill, and the player must reallocate all that character's skill points.