Florida State University
Student Disability Resource Center

Guidelines for Documentation:
Assessing Adolescents and Adults with Learning Disabilities

Testing for learning disabilities must include three types of measures:

1. Aptitude/Cognitive Ability
2. Academic Achievement
3. Information Processing

Aptitude Cognitive Ability
- Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-III)
- Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale
- Woodcock-Johnson Pscyhoeducational Battery - Revised: Tests of Cognitive Ability
- Kaufman Adolescent and Adult Intelligence Test

Note: The Slosson Intelligence Test-Revised and the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test
are primarily screening devices which are not comprehensive enough to provide the kinds
of information necessary to make accommodation(s) decisions.

Academic Achievement
- Woodcock-Johnson Psychoeducational Battery-Revised: Tests of Achievement
- Wechsler Individual Achievement Test (WIAT)
- Peabody Individual Achievement Test-Revised (PIAT-R)
- Scholastic Abilities Test for Adults (SAT A)
- Stanford Test of Academic Skills (TASK)

OR specific achievement tests, such as:

- Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests - Revised
- Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test
- Stanford Diagnostic Mathematics Test
- Test of Written Language - 3 (TOWL-3)
- Nelson-Denny Reading Skills Test

Note: Specific Achievement tests are useful instruments when administered under standardized
conditions and when the results are interpreted within the context of other diagnostic information.
The Wide Range Achievement Test 3 (WRAT 3) is not a comprehensive measure of
achievement and therefore should not be used as the sole measure of achievement.

Information Processing
- Woodcock-Johnson Psychoeducational Battery-Revised Tests of Cognitive Abilities
- Detroit Tests of Learning Aptitude (DTLA 3)
- Detroit Tests of Learning Aptitude Adult (DTLA A).

Documentation in the form of an evaluation performed by a qualified professional (licensed psychologist
or school psychologist) should be provided to the SDRC. Evaluation summary MUST include these three
elements:

1. A diagnosis of the specific disability
2. An indication of the severity and manner in which the disability limits the student's activity, particularly
as it relates to University life.
3. Recommendations for reasonable academic accommodations to equalize the student's opportunities at
a post-secondary level.

Important!
* Documentation must include a specific diagnosis
* Testing must be current

In the case of high school students, testing should have been conducted within the past three years. In the
case of adults, testing must be conducted within the past three to five years.

SDRC will make the final determination as to whether appropriate and reasonable accommodating are
warranted and can be provided for the individual.

These guidelines were adapted from documents and books developed by:
Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD)
Accommodations in Higher Education under the Americans with Disabilities Act
Edited by Michael Gordon and Shelby Keiser

Last Updated: 12/01/2003