Documenting a Learning Disability
Students, faculty, staff, and campus guests wishing to request accommodations due to a learning disability can refer to the links below. Currency of Documentation addresses the need for the documentation to discuss the current impact of the condition or impairment for the individual. Documentation Requirements includes the content of the documentation necessary for determining eligibility for accommodations and services at Drexel University.
Documenting a Learning Disability
Documenting a learning disability is a comprehensive and necessary component to determining reasonable and appropriate accommodations and services. An evaluation of a learning disability will be considered current, if comprehensive evaluations are conducted at age 15 or after. The Office of Disability Services (ODS) will communicate the need for documentation, if appropriate, when an individual makes accommodation requests. Current documentation supports reasonable and appropriate auxiliary aids, accommodations, and service requests made by students, employees, and campus guests.
Documentation Requirements for a Learning Disability
The following requirements are provided in the interest of assuring that documentation is appropriate to verify eligibility and to support requests for reasonable accommodations, academic adjustments, job accommodations, and/or auxiliary aids on the basis of a learning disability that currently substantially limits one or more major life activities. The Office of Disability Services (ODS) is available to consult with diagnosticians regarding any of these requirements.
I. Qualifications of the Evaluator
Professionals conducting assessments and rendering diagnoses of learning disabilities must be
qualified to do so. Comprehensive training and direct experience with an adolescent and adult LD
population is essential. Practitioners need to adhere to their profession's professional code of ethics as it relates to qualifications, dual relationships, and conflicts of interest. The name, title and professional credentials of the evaluator, including information about license or certification as well as the area of specialization, employment and state/province in which the individual practices should be clearly stated in the documentation.
For example, the following professionals would generally be considered qualified to evaluate specific learning disabilities provided that they have additional training and experience in the assessment of learning problems in adolescents and adults: clinical or educational psychologists, school psychologists, neuropsychologists, learning disability specialists, and other professionals. Use of diagnostic terminology indicating a learning disability by someone whose training and experience are not in these fields is not acceptable. It is of utmost importance that evaluators are sensitive and respectful of cultural and linguistic differences in adults and adolescents during the assessment process. All reports should be on letterhead, typed, dated, signed and otherwise legible.
II. Documentation
The provision of all reasonable accommodations and services are based upon assessment of the impact of the individual's disabilities on his or her academic/job performance. All medical documentation needs to be submitted to the ODS in English.
III. Substantiation of the Learning Disability
Documentation should validate the need for services based on the individual's current level of functioning in the educational or work setting. A comprehensive assessment battery and the resulting diagnostic report should include a diagnostic interview, assessment of aptitude, academic achievement, information processing, and a diagnosis. A school plan such as an individualized education program (IEP) or a 504 plan is generally insufficient documentation, but it can be included as part of a more comprehensive assessment battery.
IV. Recommendations for AccommodationsA. Diagnostic Interview
An evaluation report should include the summary of a comprehensive diagnostic interview. Learning disabilities are manifested during childhood, but not always formally diagnosed. Relevant information regarding the individual's academic/work history, and learning processes in elementary, secondary, and post secondary should be investigated. The diagnostician, using professional judgment as to which areas are relevant, should conduct a diagnostic interview which may include: a description of the presenting problem(s); developmental, medical, psycho-social and employment histories; family history; and a discussion of dual diagnosis where indicated.B. Assessment
The neuropsychological or psycho-educational evaluation for the diagnosis of a specific learning disability must provide clear and specific evidence that a learning disability does or does not exist. Assessment, and any resulting diagnosis, should consist of and be based on a comprehensive assessment battery that does not rely on any one test or sub test. The following list is provided as a helpful resource, but it is not intended to be definitive or exhaustive.C. Specific DiagnosisAptitude
• Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - Revised (WAIS-R) or the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - III (WAIS-III)
• Woodcock-Johnson Psycho educational Batter- Revised: Tests of Cognitive Ability
• Kaufman Adolescent and Adult Intelligence Test
• Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale (4th ed.)Academic Achievement
• Scholastic Abilities Test for Adults (SATA)
• Stanford Test of Academic Skills
• Woodcock-Johnson Psycho educational Batter- Revised: Tests of Achievement
• Wechsler Individual Achievement Test (WIAT) and specific achievement tests such as:
• Nelson -Denny Reading Skills Test
• Stanford Diagnostic Mathematics Test
• Test of Written Language-3 (TOWL-3)
• Wechsler Memory Scale Test
• Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests- RevisedSpecific achievement tests are useful instruments when administered under standardized conditions and interpreted within the context of other diagnostic information. The Wide Range Achievement Test-3 (WRAT-3) is not a comprehensive measure of achievement, rather it is a screening device and therefore is not useful if used as the sole measure of achievement. Evidence of a substantial limitation to learning or other major life activities must be provided. Minimally, the domains to be addressed must include the following:
1. Aptitude
A complete intellectual assessment with all sub tests scores, standard scores, and percentiles reported.2. Academic Achievement
A comprehensive academic achievement battery is essential with all sub tests, standard scores, and percentiles reported for those sub tests administered. The battery should include current levels of academic functioning in relevant areas such as reading (decoding and comprehension), mathematics, and oral and written language.3. Information Processing
Specific areas of information processing (e.g., short- and long-term memory, sequential memory, auditory and visual perception/processing, processing speed, executive functioning and motor ability) should be assessed.Other assessment measures such as non-standard measures and informal assessment procedures or observations may be helpful in determining performance across a variety of domains.
Individual "learning styles," "learning differences," "academic problems" and "test difficulty or anxiety" in and of themselves, do not constitute a learning disability. It is important to rule out alternative explanations for problems in learning such as emotional, attentional or motivational problems that may be interfering with learning, but do not constitute a learning disability. The diagnostician is encouraged to use direct language in the diagnosis and documentation of a learning disability, avoiding the use of terms such as "suggests" or "is indicative of."If the data indicate that a learning disability is not present, the evaluator should state that conclusion in the report.
D. Test Scores
Standard scores and percentiles should be provided for all normed measures. Grade equivalents are not useful unless standard scores and or percentiles are also included. The data should logically reflect a substantial limitation to learning which the individual is requesting the accommodation. The particular profile of the individual's strengths and weaknesses must be shown to relate to functional limitations that may necessitate accommodations.The tests should be reliable, valid and standardized for use with an adolescent/adult population. The test findings should document both the nature and severity of the learning disability. Informal inventories, surveys and direct observation by a qualified professional may be used in tandem with formal tests in order to further develop a clinical hypothesis.
E. Clinical Summary
A well-written diagnostic summary based on a comprehensive evaluation process is a necessary component of the report. Assessment instruments and the data they provide do not diagnose; rather, they provide important elements that must be integrated by the evaluator with background information, observations of the client during the testing situation, and the current context. It is essential, therefore, that professional judgment be utilized in the development of a clinical summary. The clinical summary should include:1. Demonstration of the evaluator's having ruled out alternative explanations for academic problems as a result of poor education, poor motivation and / or study skills, emotional problems, attentional problems and cultural/ language differences;
2. Indication of how patterns in the individual's cognitive ability, achievement and information processing reflect the presence of a learning disability;
3. Indication of the substantial limitation to learning or other major life activity presented by the learning disability and the degree to which it impacts the individual in the learning context for which accommodations are being requested.
The summary should also include any record of prior accommodation or auxiliary aids, including any information about specific conditions under which the accommodations were used (e.g., standardized testing, final exams, licensing or certification examinations).
It is important to recognize that accommodation needs can change over time and are not always identified through the initial diagnostic process. Conversely, a prior history of accommodation does not, in and of itself, warrant the provision of a similar accommodation. The evaluators should describe the impact the diagnosed learning disability has on a specific major life activity as well as the degree of significance of this impact on the individual.
All documentation is confidential and should be submitted to:
Office of Disability Services, Drexel University
3141 Chestnut Street, 81-210
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone: 215.895.1401 TTY: 215.895.2299 Fax: 215.895.1402