To be considered disabling, the learning disability must be shown to interfere in a substantial manner with the student's participation in the education process. It is the responsibility of the student to provide documentation of learning disability in the form of a comprehensive written report of the evaluation of the learning disability. To verify a student's eligibility to receive disability support services under current legislation, the evaluation should meet the following requirements;

1. Testing must be comprehensive. The administration of one test only does not provide acceptable diagnosis. At a minimum, testing should include, but not be limited to, assessment of the following areas:

A. Aptitude. Preferred instruments are the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III (WAIS-III) with subtest scores and/or the Woodcock-Johnson III (WJ-III) Tests of Cognitive Abilities.

B. Achievement. Assessment of the student's current levels of functioning in reading, mathematics, and written language is necessary. Preferred instruments include (1) the Woodcock-Johnson –III, Tests of Achievement or (2) specific achievement tests such as the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests-Revised and the Nelson-Denny Reading Test. (The Wide Range Achievement Test-III is not a comprehensive measure of achievement and is unsuitable used by itself.)

C. Information Processing. Specific areas of information processing, i.e. short-and long-term memory, reasoning, listening, sequential memory, auditory and visual processing, and processing speed, must be assessed. Use of subtests from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III is acceptable. Additional testing designed to corroborate the existence of processing disorders identified by the Wechsler or the Woodcock-Johnson are recommended.

2. Testing must be current. In most cases, this is interpreted to mean that the testing should have been conducted within three years of the student’s initial request for disability-related services at the University. Because the provision of all accommodations and services is based on an assessment of the impact of a student's disabilities on his/her academic performance, it is in the student's best interest to provide current documentation. The appropriateness of presented documentation will be determined by the Assistant Director of the Office of Disability Services.

3. The professional(s) conducting the assessment and evaluating the results in order to provide diagnosis of specific learning disabilities must be qualified to do so. Such professionals may include licensed educational and/or clinical psychologists, educational therapists, learning disabilities specialists, and speech and language pathologists. These professionals must have expertise in the multidisciplinary field of learning disabilities and be experienced in working with an adult population.

4. Testing instruments must be (a) statistically valid and reliable and (b) standardized for an adult population.

5. The diagnostic report should contain a written summary of the student's educational, medical, and family histories as they may relate to the diagnosed learning disabilities. Additionally, the summary should demonstrate that the student's difficulties in acquiring and using various academic skills are not the result of other factors such as sensory impairment, serious emotional disturbance, cultural differences, or inadequate educational background.

6. A separate page with test scores/data should be included in the diagnostic report to facilitate evaluation of the appropriateness of the diagnosis. Also described should be testing procedures followed, testing instruments used, interpretation of test results, the date(s) of testing, and the name and title of the evaluator.

7. There must be a clear and specific statement identifying the student's learning disabilities. (By themselves, individual learning or processing differences do not constitute a learning disability.) A comprehensive assessment report will include (a) educational history, (b) behavioral observations, (c) clearly specified and described intracognitive and/or cognitive-achievement discrepancies, and (d) recommendations for academic accommodations based on the assessment findings. A statement of how the disorder substantially interferes with the student’s educational progress must be included.