DAS staff and students work together via an interactive process to determine appropriate accommodations. The process works best when DAS staff can review documentation, especially for students with non-visible disabilities, prior to an initial meeting. A conversation with the student regarding impacts/barriers may suffice. DAS may, at its discretion, require additional documentation.
Information About Documentation
- Documentation is not intended to put a student in the position of proving their disability and is typically less necessary when a student's condition is apparent.
- Documentation will not become part of the student's educational records and will be kept in the student's online file in the DAS Student Portal.
- Regardless of the documentation submitted, students' approved accommodations and services may differ from high school to college because the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvements Act (IDEA) does not apply at the university level. For additional information, please see relevant laws governing accommodations.
Examples of documentation that may suffice for accommodations at the university level
- DAS Documentation form.
- Letter from a provider signed, dated, and on letterhead.
- Self-report on the DAS Application or via conversation with DAS Adviser.
- An IEP or 504 Plan
- Information about accommodations at a previous postsecondary institution.
- MyChart/MyHealthyVet notes that only identifies the medical condition.
Documentation forms/letters should be provided by a qualified, licensed professional whose field of specialization directly pertains to the student's disability and who is unrelated to the student. Except in cases of psychoeducational or neuropsychological evaluations, where there is a comprehensive report available, DAS recommends that students' providers complete Documentation Information Form
- Documentation needs to be provided in English, and if translation is required, it must be completed by a certified translator.
- The student is responsible for any costs related to obtaining additional documentation if the initial documentation is incomplete, insufficient or inadequate.
Documentation that is most beneficial to DAS:
- has been completed by a provider who has an established/long-term relationship with and/or has conducted a multi-day evaluation of the student.
- articulates the history of any prior services, medications, or other supports received by the student as well as the effectiveness or limitations of these prior supports.
- describes the functional limitations the student experiences in an educational environment.
- references a diagnosis, even if provisional, of the student's condition, including any rule-out conditions or changes over time.
Accommodation specific Documentation
If a condition is variable in nature, documentation should generally be no more than one year old so that DAS is in the best position to support current needs.
Additional information may be needed for memory aids, flexibility with attendance/assignments, bac core substitutions, calculators, spell checker, etc. A complete educational evaluation is preferred over the form/letter. The educational evaluation should be completed by a qualified professional(s) and include the following:
- A clear statement and explanation of the diagnosis and/or functional impacts. Statements that the student has a "learning difficulty" or "learns differently" are often not, by themselves, sufficient.
- Scores from the tests administered using age-based norms. The battery of tests used should contain widely accepted instruments such as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - Fourth Edition, the Woodcock Johnson IV Tests of Cognitive Ability and Achievement, etc. If impacts pertain to memory, additional information may be needed. See section below.
- Rationale for recommended academic accommodations showing a clear relationship to the student's disability related impacts. This is especially critical if the accommodation being requested includes course requirement substitutions or memory aids.
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Tests of Intellectual/Cognitive Functioning may be requested to identify memory issues, cognitive “fuzziness” or brain fog, etc.
- A test used to measure intellectual ability, including scores and subtest scores
- Acceptable IQ tests:
- Kaufman Adolescent and Adult Intelligence Test
- Stanford Binet 4th Edition
- Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – IV (WAIS-IV)
- Woodcock-Johnson IV General Intellectual Ability (GIA)
- Test of Non-verbal Intelligence – (TONI-4)
- A test used to measure academic achievement, including scores and subtest scores.
- Acceptable achievement tests: Nelson-Denny Reading Test
- Scholastic Abilities Test for Adults (SATA)
- Wechsler Individual Achievement Test – II (WIAT-II)
- Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Achievement
- Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests – Revised
- Test of Written Language – 4 (TOWL-4)
- Stanford Diagnostic Mathematics Test
- Attention, Memory, Learning
- Brown Attention Deficit Disorder Scale
- California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT-II)
- Detroit Test of Adult Learning Aptitude (DTLA-A)
- Detroit Test of Learning Aptitude -4 (DLTA-4)
- Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Test Battery
- Integrated Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance Test (IVA+Plus)
- Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test – Third Edition (RBMT-3)
- Scales of Cognitive Ability for Traumatic Brain Injury (SCATBI)
- Test of Variable Attention (TOVA)
- WAIS IV Working Memory Index (WMS)
- Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning - Second Edition (WRAML-2)
- Wechsler Memory Scales IV
Page Updated: 9/2024