Documentation Guidelines
Disability documentation must verify the nature and extent of the disability in accordance with current professional standards and techniques, and it must clearly address the need for all of the student's specific accommodation requests. Documentation should support the need for services based on the individual's current level of functioning in the educational setting.
Essential Elements of Quality Disability Documentation:
- A diagnostic statement identifying the disability
- A history of the condition, past accommodations, and/or medications
- A description of the expected progression or stability of the disability
- A description of the current functional limitations as relevant to the academic environment
- Names of any assessment instruments used
- The credentials of the evaluator(s)
Insufficient Documentation:
- An IEP or 504 plan: An IEP or 504 plan in and of itself, usually is not sufficient. It may be enough to provide some types of provisional accommodations and can be used as a component of a more comprehensive report.
- A physician’s prescription is not sufficient documentation.
- Medical records with the name of the condition(s) with no additional information of current disability impacts is not sufficient documentation
- Documentation from a family member will not be accepted
- An accommodation letter from a previous institution in and of itself, is generally not sufficient. It may be enough to provide some types of provisional accommodations and can be used as a component of a more comprehensive evaluative report.
- Mental health disability documentation should be dated within the last six months unless the condition is stable and unchanging
Accessible Education Services (AES) may, at its discretion, request additional documentation if the information currently held by AES does not adequately and clearly support the accommodation(s) being requested.
Where to Send Documentation
- Scan and email it to accessible-info@willamette.edu
- Fax it to 503-370-6647
- Mail it to our office: Accessible Education Services, Willamette University, Smullin 155, 900 State Street, Salem, OR 97301
- Drop it off in person in Smullin 155