Documentation of Disabilities

Professionals conducting assessment and rendering diagnosis of disabilities must be qualified. A qualified professional must hold a degree in a field related to the diagnosis and have at least one year of diagnostic expertise with young adults/ adolescents.

Recommended practitioners include: certified and/or licensed psychologists, learning disabilities specialists, educational therapists, and diagnosticians in public schools or colleges and rehabilitation services and medical practitioners who are appropriately licensed. The diagnostician must be an impartial individual who is not a family member of the student.

The following guidelines are provided to assist the service provider in collaborating with each student to determine appropriate accommodations. Documentation serves as a foundation that legitimizes a student's request for appropriate accommodations. Required documentation includes:

1. Testing that is comprehensive, including a measure of both aptitude and academic achievement in the areas of reading, mathematics, and written expression.
2. Documentation for eligibility must reflect the current impact the disability has on the student's functioning (the age of acceptable documentation is dependent upon the condition, the current status of the student, and the student's request for accommodations).
3. A clear statement that a disability is present along with the rationale for this diagnosis. Information must include the nature and extent of the limitations to the student's functional ability.
4. A narrative summary, including all scores (standard and percentile), which supports diagnosis.
5. A statement of strengths and needs that will impact the student's ability to meet the demands of the postsecondary environment.
6. A statement of the functional impacts or limitations of the disability on learning or other major life activities and the degree to which it impacts the individual in the learning context for which accommodations are being requested.
7. An IEP or 504 are acceptable forms of documentation in most cases. However additional documentation may be required to support the diagnosis in some circumstances. 

Further assessment by an appropriate professional may be required if co-existing learning disabilities or other disabling conditions are indicated. The student and the accessibility specialist at SEU collaboratively discuss appropriate accommodations, but the final decision with respect to the accommodation(s) to be provided by SEU is at the sole discretion of the University.