Learning Disabilities Documentation Guidelines

Professionals conducting assessments, rendering diagnoses of learning disabilities (LD), and making recommendations for appropriate accommodations must be qualified to do so. The following professionals would be qualified to evaluate specific learning disabilities provided they have additional training and experience in the assessment of learning problems in adults.

Clinical or educational psychologists
School psychologists
Neuropsychologists
Learning disability specialists

It is not considered appropriate for professionals to evaluate members of their families. Documentation from a family member will not be accepted.

Reports from the professional should be submitted on letterhead and include the following:

Name, title, and professional credentials of the evaluator
Information about license or certification as well as the area of specialization
Number of years employed in current field
State/province in which the individual practices

Documentation:

The provision of all reasonable accommodations and services is based upon assessment of the impact of the student’s disabilities on his or her academic performance. Therefore, it is in the student’s best interest to provide recent and appropriate documentation (preferably within the past 4 years) relevant to the student learning environment.

The Diagnostic Report

Diagnosis
The report must include a clear statement of the learning disability, and the rationale for this diagnosis as supported by the current diagnostic battery. Individual “learning styles,” “learning differences,” “academic problems,” and “test difficulty or anxiety” do not constitute a learning disability. If the data indicate that a learning disability is not present, the evaluator should state that conclusion in the report. The diagnosis should include a DSM IV diagnosis.

Test Scores
Standard scores and/or percentiles should be provided for all normed measures. The data should logically reflect a substantial limitation to learning for which the student is requesting
the accommodation. The particular profile of the student’s strengths and weaknesses must be shown to relate to functional limitations that may necessitate accommodations.

The tests used 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.

Diagnostic Interview
The diagnostician, using professional judgment as to areas are relevant to the question of determining a students current eligibility for accommodation(s), must provide a summary that includes description of the presenting problems(s); developmental history; medical history, including the absence of a medical basis for the present symptoms; academic history including results of prior standardized testing; reports of classroom performance; relevant family history, including primary language of the home and the students current of fluency of English; relevant psychosocial history; relevant history; a discussion of dual diagnosis, alternative or co-existing mood, behavioral, neurological, and/or personality disorders along with any history of relevant medication use that may affect the individual’s and exploration of possible alternatives that may mimic a learning disability when, in fact, one is not present.

Assessment
The neuropsychological or psycho-educational evaluation for the ______ 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, must consist of and be based on a comprehensive assessment battery that does not rely on any one test or subtest.

Objective evidence of a substantial limitation to learning must be provided. The domains to be addressed must include the following:

Aptitude/Cognitive Ability
A complete intellectual assessment with all subtests and standard scores reported is essential.
Academic Achievement
A comprehensive academic achievement battery is essential, all subtests and standard scores reported for those subtests administered. The battery must include current levels of functioning in relevant areas such as reading (decoding and comprehension), mathematics, and oral and written language.
Information Processing
Specific areas of information processing (e.g., short and long memory; sequential memory; auditory and visual perception/processing; processing speed; executive functioning; motor ability) should be addressed.

Other assessment measures, such as classroom tests and informal assessment procedures or observations, may be helpful in determining performance across a variety of domains. Other formal assessment measures may be integrated with the above instruments to help rule in rule out the learning disability to differentiate it from coexisting neurological and/or psychiatric disorders (i.e., to establish a differential diagnosis). In addition to standardized tests, it is also very useful to include informal observations of the student during test administration.

Clinical Summary
A well-written diagnostic summary should indicate:

That the evaluator 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.
How patterns in the student’s cognitive ability, achievement, and information processing reflect the presence of a learning disability.
The substantial limitation to learning or other major life activity presented by the learning disability and degree to which it impacts the individual in the learning context for which accommodations are being requested.
Why specific accommodations are needed and how the effects of the specific disability are accommodated.