Documentation for Students with Disabilities
To establish that one is a student with a disability and has a need for accommodation, the student should provide appropriate documentation regarding the nature of his/her disability and the functional limitations of his/her ability that may be addressed through accommodations.
Appropriate documentation from a recognized professional should be submitted to the Office of Accessibility prior to obtaining any accommodations.
Virginia Peninsula Community College does not provide testing of disabilities for any student.
Documentation should be as current as possible. Guidelines for specific disabilities will indicate how recent the documentation must be and can be found in the information that follows. Once documentation is provided, the Office of Accessibility will work with the student, and faculty, when necessary, to identify suitable accommodations.
Documentation should support the need for services and accommodations based on the student's current level of functioning in an educational setting. Documentation should be completed by a recognized professional (i.e., an individual and/or agency with appropriate credentials and expertise in the disability for which the accommodations are being sought). An IEP (Individualized Education Plan) or 504 Plan may be included as part of the documentation package, but the Office of Accessibility may request additional documentation based on the accommodation(s) being requested.
To verify that documentation is authentic and current (based on disability category), all documentation must be typed on letterhead, dated, signed, and include the name, title, and credentials of the evaluator or professional.
All documentation will be kept in the student's confidential file in the Office of Accessibility. Documentation is kept for three (3) years after the student's last semester of attendance and then will be archived and inactive.
Minimum requirements for documentation for all disability categories:
- Typed on letterhead, dated, signed, and include the name, title, and credentials of the evaluator or recognized professional.
- Clear indication of specific diagnosis/diagnoses
- Condition status (if appropriate) (e.g., stable, or progressive, temporary, or permanent)
- Description of functional limitations caused by each disability/impact on student’s ability to participate in academic activities.
- Description of impact on academic performance caused by each disability.
- Relative information regarding medical intervention for disability (if appropriate), to include if medications/assistive devices are currently being used to address impairments, the impact of the medication on the student's ability to meet academic demands, and side effects of medical intervention that are relevant to the student’s functional limitations and academic performance.
- Recommendations for appropriate accommodations intended to minimize the impact of the student’s disability. Recommended accommodations must be relevant to the documented disability and its impact on the student’s academic/functional performance.
Additional detailed documentation may substantiate the provision of requested accommodations.
Additional disability-specific requirements:
- ADHD:
- Requires a DSM-5 diagnosis.
- Recognized professionals who may provide documentation for ADHD to students include health professionals/specialists with expertise in the field (e.g., psychiatrists, psychologists, neuropsychologists, mental health professionals, etc.).
- Health Impairments:
- Recognized professionals who may provide documentation of health impairments to students include physicians and medical specialists.
- Hearing Impairments:
- Recognized professionals who may provide documentation of hearing impairments to students include audiologists.
- Results of an audiogram that indicates the type of hearing loss (either conductive or sensorineural)
- Degree of hearing loss
- Whether the condition is mitigated by medication or hearing aids
- Learning Disabilities:
- Acceptable recognized professionals who may conduct evaluations and curate reports include a licensed educational psychologist, clinical psychologist, or learning disability specialist.
- An evaluation must have been completed using adult-norm scores (i.e., using adult instruments and scales). Accommodation eligibility for students outside of the criteria (i.e., dual enrollment) will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
- Evaluations should be based on testing of multiple areas of functioning, to include (but not limited to) testing of overall cognitive/intelligence, achievement, visual-motor function, and language.
- Documentation should include test scores (subtests and standard scores, percentiles) and a detailed interpretation of the results, including strengths and weaknesses.
- Documentation should clearly describe discrepancies between standard scores and test results, to include the relative ability level compared to standard scores. If the recognized professional’s clinical judgment differs from results indicated by scores, a rationale should be provided.
- Mental Health Impairments:
- Recognized professionals who may provide documentation of mental health impairments to students include qualified mental health professionals (i.e. psychiatrist, psychologist)
- Description of situations that may exacerbate the condition.
- Visual Impairments:
- Recognized professionals who may provide documentation of visual impairments to students include optometrists and vision-related specialists.
- Explanation of the extent of the individual’s visual fields and degree of visual acuity
- Physical Impairments:
- Recognized professionals who may provide documentation of physical impairments to students include physicians and related specialists.