Learning Disabilities
Documentation Guidelines for Learning Disabilities.
Assessment Providers
Professionals conducting assessments, rendering diagnoses of specific learning disabilities (LD), and recommending appropriate accommodations must be qualified to do so. Comprehensive training and relevant experience with adolescent and adult LD populations are essential. The use of diagnostic terminology indicating a learning disability by someone whose training and experience are not in these fields is not acceptable. The following professionals would generally be considered qualified.
- Clinical or educational psychologists
- Neuropsychologists
- Medical doctors with demonstrated training and experience in the assessment of learning disabilities in adolescents and adults
Assessment Documentation
Documentation must be comprehensive and recent, within the last 3 years. Although the learning disability is ongoing, the severity and manifestations of the condition may change over time. The provision of reasonable accommodations and services is based upon SAR’s assessment of the current impact of the individual's disability on their academic performance. Documentation should be provided on the official letterhead of the doctor, institution, and/or agency making the diagnosis. Documentation should be a typed comprehensive neuropsychological or psycho-educational evaluation.
| Required in Documentation: |
| The clinician’s name, title, license/certification credentials, phone/fax number, address, signature, and date(s) of treatment |
| Description of presenting problems and relevant medical, developmental, and psychosocial history |
| Academic history, including areas of uneven academic achievement and results of prior standardized tests |
| Clear, specific diagnostic statement and explanation of functional limitations due to the learning disability using DSM-IV-TR criteria. Non-specific diagnoses, such as individual "learning styles," "learning differences," "academic problems," "slow reader," "test difficulty," or "test anxiety," do not constitute a learning disability |
| Discussion of pre-existing or coexisting disorders, including behavioral, medical, neurological, and/or personality disorders, along with any history of medication use, that may affect the individual's learning |
| Test scores from standardized instruments as well as grade and age equivalents |
An interpretive summary based on a comprehensive evaluation. Psychometric assessment must consist of a comprehensive, individualized, standardized, and norm-appropriate assessment battery. Any resulting diagnosis must be based upon a pattern of performance across the battery. Any factors influencing the validity of the testing must be described. The selection of instruments should be based on their sustainability, considering reliability and validity for use with the adult population. Minimally, the domains to be addressed in the evaluation must include the following:
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| Recommendations for reasonable accommodations and explanations that link accommodations to specific academic tasks and support such recommendations with a rationale based on specific test results |
To request this page or any information referenced on the page in an alternative format, please email sar@uwf.edu.
