Documentation Requirements

Visual Impairments

We will need a current letter or examination report (within the last three years) from a medical doctor, optometrist or ophthalmologist documenting the acuity of the vision loss, both corrected and non-corrected. This report should also support the need for the accommodations being requested.

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Hearing Impairments

We will need a current letter or audiological report (within the last three years) from a medical doctor or speech and hearing center audiologist documenting the acuity of hearing loss, both corrected and non-corrected. This report should also support the need for the accommodations being requested.

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Medical Conditions or Chronic Illnesses

We will need documentation from your physician including a diagnosis, date of last visit, current medications (including any side effects), how the condition or illness impacts you in the classroom, and specific recommendations for academic accommodations based on your disability. This report should support the need for the accommodations being requested.

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Psychological or Psychiatric Disorders

For students with psychological or psychiatric disorders, we will need documentation from a licensed psychologist, psychiatrist or neurologist, including:
* a diagnosis (according to DSM-IV with Axis)
* differential diagnoses that were considered and ruled out
* dates of treatment, (initial up to most recent)
* current medications (including side effects)
* functional limitations (How is condition disabling in academic setting? How severe is the impairment?)
* specific recommendations for academic accommodations based on the disability
This report should also support the need for the accommodations being requested. Documentation regarding psychological disorders must be reviewed and approved by the Regent's Center for Learning Disorders. The Office of Disability Services will assist you with this.

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Acquired Brain Impairment

We will need a current psychological, psychoeducational, vocational or medical exam (within the last three years) which indicates the effects of the acquired brain impairment on cognitive functioning and academic performance. Cognitive deficits and abilities should be addressed. This report should also support the need for the accommodations being requested. The report must be provided by a licensed professional. Additional records from primary or secondary schools may be requested. All documentation for acquired brain injury must be reviewed and approved by the Regents' Center for Learning Disorders. The Office of Disability Services will assist you with this. If your evaluation is not within the last three years, you will need to update your evaluation with current information. You can have a local professional perform your evaluation, or have the Regents' Center for Learning Disorders (RCLD) conduct testing. There are three Regents' Centers for Learning Disorders in Georgia, and the closest to Armstrong Atlantic State University is at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro. If you are interested in scheduling your testing with the RCLD, please contact the Office of Disability Services at Armstrong Atlantic State University for a referral. Staff at the RCLD are available to discuss documentation requirements and can answer questions about Board of Regents' criteria. Even if you do not choose to utilize the RCLD for your testing, please ask your evaluator to contact the Regents' Center for Learning Disorders at (912) 681-0100 before your evaluation to assure that your evaluation will meet the Board of Regents' criteria.

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Learning Disabilities

We will need a psychological or psychoeducational evaluation, not older than three years. It must be provided by a licensed professional and meet the Board of Regents' criteria for learning disability. This report should also support the need for the accommodations being requested. Additional records from primary or secondary schools may be requested. All documentation for learning disabilities must be reviewed and approved by the Regents' Center for Learning Disorders. The Office of Disability Services will assist you with this. If your evaluation is not within the last three years, you will need to update your evaluation with current information. You can have a local professional perform your evaluation, or have the Regents' Center for Learning Disorders (RCLD) conduct testing. There are three Regents' Centers for Learning Disorders in Georgia, and the closest to Armstrong Atlantic State University is at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro. If you are interested in scheduling your testing with the RCLD, please contact the Office of Disability Services at Armstrong Atlantic State University for a referral. Staff at the RCLD are available to discuss documentation requirements and can answer questions about Board of Regents' criteria. Even if you do not choose to utilize the RCLD for your testing, please ask your evaluator to contact the Regents' Center for Learning Disorders at (912) 681-0100 before your evaluation to assure that your evaluation will meet the Board of Regents' criteria.

Georgia Board of Regents criteria for accepting outside evaluations documenting Learning Disability

1. Documentation must be within 3 years of the student's application for assistance. (The exception to this guideline in some instances is if the evaluation was completed after the student was 18 years of age and the evaluation utilized appropriate adult standardized tests and is still considered by an RCLD to adequately represent an individual's current functioning.) Documentation must be comprehensive, including history, diagnostic interviews, test results (including standardized test scores when available), differential diagnosis, details regarding a student's functional limitations, and recommendations for accommodations which are appropriate in college, graduate or professional educational settings.

2. A specific learning disability must be stated within the documentation submitted. The student must exhibit academic deficit(s) in one or more, but not all, areas of academic achievement; a correlated cognitive or information processing deficit; and average intellectual ability. There must be documentation of both an academic deficit and a correlated processing deficit. Documentation of only academic deficit(s) or only processing deficit(s) is not sufficient. If another diagnosis is applicable, it should be stated. The evaluation must be signed by a professional with expertise in evaluating adolescent and/or adult populations and appropriately licensed by the state.

3. One of the following individually administered general intelligence tests must have been utilized.

• Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-III)
• Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-III)
• Stanford Binet IV
• Kaufman Adult Intelligence Test (KAIT)
• Differential Ability Scales (DAS)
• Woodcock Johnson-III - General Intellectual Ability (Standard or Extended)

Please list subscale scores and, where available, index or cluster scores. Average intellectual abilities will be defined as the student's best verbal/nonverbal or best fluid/crystallized domain score on a standardized global measure of intelligence. A standard score of 90 or above will be considered in the average range.

4. Achievement assessment in the following areas is required:

1. Reading (decoding, rate, and comprehension)
2. Mathematics (calculations, reasoning, and algebra)
3. Written Language (spelling and written expression) If available for review, a written language sample is most helpful.

To be considered an area of academic deficit, a student's individually administered standardized achievement test results must fall at least a standard deviation below the student's intellectual abilities, or a standard deviation below the student's other academic abilities as assessed by the same measures.

5. There must also be evidence of correlated cognitive processing deficits and processing strengths identified on measures other than those used to obtain the global IQ score:

1. There must be processing deficit(s) identified in one or more of the cognitive processing areas listed below. Oral language must be assessed. The deficit must represent a logical basis for the academic deficit. For example, one would not expect a specific fine motor deficit to be directly linked to a reading disability. Processing deficits must be evident on multiple measures and not based on a single discrepant score on an individual test or subtest.
1. Attention
2. Oral Language
3. Phonological/Orthographic Processing
4. Fluency/Automaticity
5. Memory/Learning (Working Memory, Long Term Memory, and/or Short Term Memory)
6. Executive Functions
7. Visual-Perceptual/Visual-Spatial
8. Visual-Motor
2. There must also be evidence of processing strengths identified in one or more of the cognitive processing areas listed above. Processing strengths must also be evident on multiple measures and not based on a single discrepant score on an individual test or subtest.

6. Social-emotional status must be assessed and discussed. Formal assessment instruments and/or clinical interview are appropriate.

7. Assessment instruments must have age appropriate norms for high school seniors/college freshmen or older non-traditional students. All standardized measures must be represented by standard scores and percentile ranks based on published norms. These certainly can be supplemented by informal assessment. If scores based on specialized norms are used (e.g., two year or four year college norms), it will also be necessary to provide scores based on general population norms, if those scores are available in the manual.

Accommodations on System tests may be provided for students with Learning Disability as described by the Learning Support/Developmental Studies Policies and Procedures (Section 2.09.01 of the Academic Affairs Handbook) and the procedures for Special Administration of the Regents' Test to Students with Disabilities (Section 2.08 of the Academic Affairs Handbook). Students with Learning Disability may be eligible for extended semesters in Learning Support upon approval by a Regents Center for Learning Disorders. Evaluation by the Centers will be based on the DSM-IV criteria and the documentation criteria established by the Centers.

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Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)

We will need a current report (within the last three years) from a medical doctor documenting the disorder (based on DSM-IV criteria), medications (if applicable) and the impact the disability has on academic abilities. This evaluation must meet the Board of Regents' criteria for ADD. This report should also support the need for the accommodations being requested. All documentation for ADD must be reviewed and approved by the Regents' Center for Learning Disorders. The Office of Disability Services will assist you with this. If your evaluation is not within the last three years, you will need to update your evaluation with current information. You can have a local professional perform your evaluation, or have the Regents' Center for Learning Disorders (RCLD) conduct testing. There are three Regents' Centers for Learning Disorders in Georgia, and the closest to Armstrong Atlantic State University is at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro. If you are interested in scheduling your testing with the RCLD, please contact the Office of Disability Services at Armstrong Atlantic State University for a referral. Staff at the RCLD are available to discuss documentation requirements and can answer questions about Board of Regents' criteria. Even if you do not choose to utilize the RCLD for your testing, please ask your evaluator to contact the Regents' Center for Learning Disorders at (912) 681-0100 before your evaluation to assure that your evaluation will meet the Board of Regents' criteria.

Board of Regents' Documentaion requirements for Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

In order to be eligible for accommodations because of ADHD, students must meet the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and must meet the following criteria for documentation adopted by the Regents Centers for Learning Disorders:

1. Developmental history that is documented, using independent sources, of appropriate symptoms and problem behaviors across multiple settings (i.e., past evaluations, school records, teacher report).

2. Documentation of current symptoms that meet diagnostic criteria (clinical interview, behavior rating scales).

3. Documentation of both childhood and current adult behavior on rating scales of ADHD symptoms that have appropriate age norms (Norms-based behavior rating scales -- actual data required).

4. Corroboration of current ADHD symptoms across multiple settings by two independent observers with knowledge of the student's functioning (e.g., parent, spouse, teacher, supervisor, co-worker, relative, and/or clinician observation).

5. Clear evidence and documentation of interference with developmentally appropriate academic, social, or vocational functioning.

6. All other psychiatric or medical disorders which may cause problems with inattention are differentially evaluated, documented, and considered in the differential diagnosis. This is particularly important when mood, anxiety, or substance abuse disorders are involved. Other causes of problems with attention and concentration must be considered and discussed (i.e., test anxiety). A positive response to medication is not by itself considered diagnostic.

7. Assessment on which the documentation or evaluation is based must have been completed no more then three years prior to the student's application for academic assistance, OR must have been completed as an adult (18 years old orolder) and still be considered current. All documentation must include a specific diagnosis of ADHD and provide the evidence used to meet the above seven criteria. It is important for all evaluations to state clearly how ADHD functionally impacts the student's life across settings, creates a substantial limitation in learning, and provide a clear rationale why specific accommodations are needed to mediate its impact.

All documentation must include a specific diagnosis of ADHD and provide the evidence used to meet the above seven criteria. It is important for all evaluations to state clearly how ADHD functionally impacts the student's life across settings, creates a substantial limitation in learning, and provide a clear rationale why specific accommodations are needed to mediate its impact.

Accommodations on System tests may be provided for students with ADHD as described by the Learning Support/Developmental Studies Policies and Procedures (Section 2.09.01 of the Academic Affairs Handbook) and the procedures for Special Administration of the Regents' Test to Students with Disabilities (Section 2.08 of the Academic Affairs Handbook). Students with ADHD may be eligible for extended semesters in Learning Support upon approval by a Regents Center for Learning Disorders. Evaluation by the Centers will be based on the DSM-IV criteria and the documentation criteria established by the Centers.

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