Disability Documentation Requirements For

Students with Learning Disabilities or Attention Deficit Disorder

Binghamton University’s office of Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) provides a wide range of assistance to enrolled students with disabilities, including learning disabilities (LD) and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). In order to establish eligibility for support services and/or reasonable accommodations, students with non-visible disabilities must provide disability documentation from a professional licensed or certified to diagnose and treat their disability (ies).

Disability documentation for students with LD or ADD must be provided by one of the following:

- licensed psychologist or

- licensed neuropsychologist.

Such documentation should be the result of comprehensive adult-level testing completed no earlier than the student’s 10^th or 11^th grade in high school.

Documentation must include the following:

• Diagnosis

• DSM code (when available)

• History

• Observations

• A comprehensive standardized adult IQ test: We recommend the WAIS-III. The results and interpretation of all sub-tests must be included.

• A comprehensive test of achievement: We recommend the Woodcock-Johnson. The results and interpretation of all sub-tests must be included.

• Students diagnosed with ADD must also provide the results of a comprehensive attentional assessment. We recommend the Trail Making Tests (part A and B) of the Halstead-Reitan, the Paced Auditory Serial Test (PASAT), or the Test of Variabilities of Attention (TOVA).

• Conclusions

• Summary

• Recommendations of accommodations

These standards of acceptable documentation are designed to insure the credibility of SSD’s eligibility criteria and provide our staff with meaningful insights into the strengths, weaknesses, and disability-related needs of the students who seek our assistance. They are based on guidelines published by the Association on Higher Education and Disability, an international professional organization of college and university disability service providers. Thank for your understanding and cooperation.

B. Jean Fairbairn, Director Bethany Beecher , LD Specialist

10/09/03