Disability Resource Center

Documentation Guidelines

Specific guidelines for documentation for students with Attention Deficit and/or Hyperactivity Disorders, Language Learning Disabilities, Physical Disabilities, Psychiatric Disabilities, and/or Learning Disabilities can be found on the Educational Testing Service's Resources for Test Takers with Disabilities.

The University's Statement of Reasonable Accommodation Policy can also be accessed online.

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.

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.