WNY Collegiate Consortium and Disability Advocates

OK, we’ve mentioned it repeatedly so now it is like the elephant in the room. DOCUMENTATION. There, we said it. What is it, who provides it, where does it go, what does it do? We really cannot proceed further without addressing this issue because it will be a fundamental element to consider when shopping for a college.

What is documentation?

Documentation is that information that a student provides the college to substantiate that he meets the legal definition of disability that we previously discussed. It may be information from a doctor or other medical professional such as an audiologist (hearing), ophthalmologist (vision), or psychologist (cognitive or mental health) about the current impact of an existing condition. It may include standardized test results and interpretation (learning disability) and it may be combinations of such reports because there are several problems that co-exist.

What does documentation do?

Documentation of a disability has two purposes:

• It verifies that the individual has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.

AND

• It delineates why that the impairment/condition currently requires modifications, academic adjustments or services in order to permit the individual to participate in and/or benefit from the college’s programs, activities and services.

Where should the documentation be sent?

Documentation submitted for purposes of establishing status as a person with a disability who is eligible and in need of accommodation should be submitted directly to the designated disability service provided on campus. It should not be submitted to admissions, the academic department or advisor, athletics, etc. There may be instances in which the information should be submitted to health services.

Documentation is private information about you, the student and you can voluntarily release to anyone you want, but we would urge caution. Under the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act (FERPA) college personnel cannot have access to confidential information, which includes disability documentation, unless there is a legitimate educational need to know. If you receive a request for documentation from an office other than the disability provider, contact the DSS office to discuss the matter before you release any information.

Who can provide the documentation?

Documentation must be from a professional source who is qualified to diagnose or make determinations about the disability. For example, hearing impairment generally requires a copy of an audiogram from a licensed audiologist. Learning disabilities generally require a recent psychological evaluation by a psychologist; however, additional information from a reputable recognized expert source such as the GOW School (WNY private school serving young men with dyslexia) would also be a possibility. Documentation of Attention Deficit Disorder from a medical doctor may not be sufficient. Students are responsible for providing current adequate documentation. The college or university has the right to request further information from the student if what is presented is insufficient. A friend uses the example of a student who suddenly developed hand tremors. The medical professionals were not able to narrow down her condition to a specific diagnosis, but her tremors certainly impacted her everyday life from caring for herself, dressing and feeding to driving, taking notes in class and trying to write. Is she disabled? Yes. Is there a specific diagnosis? No. But she has significant functional limitation in everyday activities

Every professional field has hotly debated topics and documentation, retesting/ currency of documentation, etc. is one of ours. Part of the issue is philosophical. Part of it is a carryover from the triennial evaluation requirements under the Education for All Handicapped Children Act which was the predecessor to IDEA for the K-12 system. Part of the issue is rigidity on the part of some service providers to ONLY provide accommodations based on information in the documentation. Part of it is campuses making you jump through hoops because they have the right to maintain their academic standards and integrity.

It is important to know that high stakes testing, for example the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), LSAT (Law School), MCAT (medical School) and the NYS Teacher Exam DO have very specific documentation requirements including both age of testing and the contents. What is sufficient to get a student accommodations in college may not be recent enough or sufficient for these tests and may require updated testing.

There are some universal requirements:

Documentation must be on professional letterhead, and include the diagnosis or description of limitations and current status of the disability as well as the professional’s name and credentials. A handwritten note on a prescription pad is NOT documentation

Contact the Student Disability Services office on campus to determine what specific documentation the student will need to provide. Documentation is the basis for determining what accommodations, services, etc., the student is eligible to receive. It is extremely important.

K-12 labels v. 504/ADA disabilities

I hear the Syms store ad, “An educated consumer is our best customer” when I think about this topic. It is so true. You are shopping colleges to find the fit, appearance, atmosphere, philosophy, services and academics that best fit your needs and desires. As any good shopper knows, one size fits all doesn’t fit anyone very well.

Think of a multi sided jigsaw puzzle or a rubic’s cube. You and your student have needs, wants, issues, strengths, deficits etc. The college has services, programs, staffing, services, technology etc. The picture that you complete depends on how you assemble the pieces. It is not very likely that you will find a college that will fit perfectly; your goal is to find a college that will work with your student to the best of their mutual ability.

EXAMPLE:

A student has a clear history of learning disability and the IEP probably documents that extended time and test readers were routinely provided. If similar accommodations are all the student is requesting and the Student Exit Summary (SES) indicates that a test reader (or use of technology for reading) was an effective accommodation, then further documentation may not be needed. There may be sufficient information available to support the request.

HOWEVER,

Many students with learning disabilities have had higher level math such as algebra, trig or calculus waived in high school. More times than I care to admit, parents have told me that that personnel at the high school assured them that the college would waive the requirement be it math or foreign language, because the high school did. WRONG!! WRONG!! WRONG!!! Many parents whose son had math waived by the high school came to the college with the belief that we would also waive math in college—EXCEPT he wanted to major in Architecture or Business or Computer Science. Clearly math is essential in such fields and cannot be waived.

The same is true for students who want to be teachers and who had foreign language waived. Foreign language is a NYS requirement for teacher certification; it CANNOT be waived—but the requirement can be met in different ways. American Sign Language is an option; a French, Italian (etc.) literature or culture class in place of a language class; foreign study immersion programs are sometimes a solution. The requirement is simply fulfilled in a different manner.

So, the question is whether or not this student would need further documentation of disability beyond the testing done when she was 12 and the answer is yes, probably so. The existing testing probably doesn’t include the sequencing, fluid reasoning skills and problem solving information needed to justify a math accommodation and probably needs in depth testing to support the request for foreign language substitution.

In NYS there are 11 categories of disability for students in special education under IDEA including emotional disturbance and other health impairment. These are both non-specific umbrella terms and by themselves are insufficient to meet the eligibility requirements for postsecondary education documentation requirements. A student who has received services under this label in high school will need documentation from appropriate medical professionals to establish that one or more conditions which substantially limit at least one major life activity in order to receive services in college.

And

In July 2009, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals held that a student with an individualized education plan under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) did not automatically quality for Section 504 protection. The basis for the court’s decision was the requirement under Section 504 that the impairment substantially limit a major life activity. Substantial limitation is NOT a requirement of IDEA. The fact that Section 504’s scope is broader than that of IDEA does not automatically mean that all conditions under IDEA will meet the Section 504 standard of substantial limitation of a major life activity.

The best advice is to talk to the disability services person at the campus the student plans to attend and ask questions. And a final piece of advice:

If the school psychologist can provide an accurate picture of the student’s current level of function by administering a screening test or some additional testing that provides comparable information to the WAIS that may be acceptable. Colleges have the right to determine what documentation they want, so the best plan is to work with the disability office at the college the student plans to attend.

Keep in mind that some students in high school have been declassified and no longer are receiving services under IDEA. These students will sometimes have 504 plans so they can continue to receive accommodations such as extended time for tests. Just as an IEP is generally not “adequate documentation of a disability” neither is a 504 plan. Just because a student is declassified it does not mean that she no longer has a disability – it only means that she no longer needs special education services. She has adapted to the high school learning environment. The college learning environment is an entirely different matter. It is important that when students are declassified that updated documentation is in place both to justify the declassification and to assist the student in the transition to the postsecondary learning environment or eligibility for other adult life services.