Documentation Guidelines

Guidelines For Documentation of Psychiatric Disability / Guidelines for Alternative Testing Services / Statement of Reasonable Accommodation Policy

Documentation Guidelines:

Click here for Attention Deficit and/or Hyperactivity Disorder Documentation Guidelines.

Click here for Language Learning Disability Documentation Guidelines.

Documentation Requirements:

Whether you intend to immediately seek academic accommodations for your learning disability and/or attention deficit disorder, or wait until you see how things go, having current documentation on file, allows you the freedom to choose when you need academic accommodations and for which classes.

In college, you are in charge of who to tell that you have a learning disability and/or attention deficit disorder. You may find that one semester, you only have one or two classes where you need an appropriate accommodation in order to show that you know the material. Another semester, you may not need accommodations at all , or you may need accommodations in all of your courses. In order to receive accommodations when you need them, you must have documentation on file with this office

Documentation has a specific format that needs to be followed. The format required by the University at Albany ensures the documentation supports the accommodations that you may request. For full documentation guidelines, adopted from Educational Testing Service, can be viewed by: ADD/ADHD and LD.

In summary, required documentation must be less then 3 years old and must give information on current aptitude/intelligence, academic achievement and information processing. Your documentation should include all subtest scores as well as full scale scores. As you grow and learn, the way that your learning disability and/or attention deficit disorder effects you changes, and the accommodations necessary to do well in college may be quite different than what you needed 3 or 5 years ago.

If your testing documentation is not current or not as complete as the guidelines require, you will need to have a new evaluation done to receive academic accommodations.

This documentation is not the same as your Individual Education Plan (IEP) or the 504 Plan. These two plans should have been based on the appropriate testing documentation of your learning disability and/or attention deficit disorder that your school used in order to provide appropriate services to you.

You may find it useful to work with your school to understand your documentation results so that you can discuss, with this office and/or your professors, your disability and the accommodations you may need in college.

Guidelines For Documentation Of A Psychiatric Disability: Top

What constitutes a Psychiatric Disability?

A psychiatric disability shall be defined as any DSM IV or ICD 10 diagnosis. According to University policy, in order for the student to receive reasonable accommodations, their condition must effect one or more major life activities. It is important for the university to have documentation that connects the disability to the particular accommodations requested.

Proper Documentation includes:

* A developmental history
* A summary that outlines the student’s diagnosis
* A specific diagnosis supported by clinical testing, assessment or evaluation (results should be included)
* A description of the presenting problem and how it impacts the student academically
* Recommendations for specific accommodations
* Information about medications the student utilizes and whether or not they have side effects likely to impact their academic functioning

Accommodations offered:

* Letter to professor recommending appropriate reasonable accommodations
* Early pre-registration to accommodate medical needs
* Weekly support group
* Extended time on tests and examinations
* Assistance with scheduling classes
* Alternative testing sites to offer a stress and distraction free environment
* Campus crisis intervention
* Tutorial support
* Disabled Student Scholarship Fund

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