How to Find College Disability Documentation Requirements

Introduction

After they are admitted to and enroll at a college, students with disabilities can request accommodations at college by registering with the disability services office. As part of this process, they’ll likely have to submit documentation of their disability. (Read about the registration process or watch a video about it.)

[Students don’t have to say anything about their disability while they are applying to college. Read Step 6 of my book, Seven Steps to College Success: A Pathway for Students with Disabilities, for more on this.]

How old can documentation be?

Contrary to what families may hear, requirements can range widely. Some colleges will accept a copy of students’ IEP or 504 plan all by itself; others will not. (And some colleges don’t require any documentation at all, though there’s no data available indicating at how many schools this is true.)

When colleges require students with learning disabilities to provide documentation in the form of testing, the age of that testing will vary different from school to school. While you may have heard that testing can’t be more than three years old, that is not widely true, though it may be the case at some schools. (Learn more by reading this post or watching this video.)

Testing is typically only required when students have a learning disability. (Some colleges also require it for students with ADHD.) When it is required, many colleges requirements will say testing should include:

A) a measure of cognitive functioning. Examples include the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale- Fourth Edition, or WAIS-IV), Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – Fifth Edition, or WISC-V, and the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Ability – IV, or WJ-IV Cognitive.

B) a measure of academic functioning that covers, math, reading, and writing. Examples include the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test – Third Edition, or WIAT-III, and the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement – Fourth Edition, or WJ-IV Achievements.

C) Measures of information processing (this is covered by what appears under A)

Again, what each student’s college requires may be different. Students must check online to see what they need.

Before students register for accommodations at college, they should check the disability documentation requirements to make sure that the documentation they have includes the elements that are required. They can start by finding the college’s homepage. In the search feature of the page, they should type in the words “disability accommodations.”

On the website of some schools, this search will bring up a link to the disability services (DS) office, but some schools don’t use the word “disability” in their name. As a result, these schools’ offices may have names that might not make it obvious that they are in charge of accommodations, so the first link that comes up in your search may not seem correct, even though it is. Here are some of the names schools call the office that administers accommodations:

Once they get to the right page, students should be able to find links that say “documentation guidelines,” or “documentation requirements.” Some schools will have the same requirements regardless of the disability type, while others will have different requirements for different kinds of disabilities, such as learning disabilities or medical disabilities.

If families are not sure if the documentation the student currently has contains what is required, the student should call the disability services office at the school the student will attend. If the person who answers the phone does not know how to answer their questions (it may be a student worker), they should ask to speak to the director or anyone who can tell them whether the documentation the student has meets the requirements.

Students should read that person the list of tests contained in their documentation and ask that person to confirm that the list meets the requirements (or tell them what’s missing. They can save time on the phone by making a list of the tests included in their report ahead of time). They can make it clear that they don’t expect this person to approve accommodations over the phone, but rather to confirm that the tests in the documentation cover the requirements.

Parents/guardians can take a “coaching” role by going over everything with their student ahead of time (offering some wording to use, if the student is anxious), and by staying nearby when they call, in case they get asked a question they can’t answer. But this is a perfect time and opportunity for students to develop or practice their self-advocacy skills, which will be so important at college.

Most students’ documentation will be accepted by their college. Even if it doesn’t seem to meet the requirements, students should submit it anyway; the college may show flexibility. If the college does not accept the documentation, students should ask for temporary accommodations until they can get the testing done and get a report.

If they do need to get testing, students should ask whether the college offers it; most don’t, but a few do. If the college doesn’t do testing, students should ask if the disability services office has a referral list.

Before families hire anyone to do the needed testing, they should read my tips on what to should look for in a private report and learn how to check that they’ll get a good (not just long) report. For additional resources, they can read about ways to get testing at a reduced cost, and how to try to get insurance to cover testing.