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Documentation Guidelines

In order to provide reasonable and appropriate academic accommodations to UTHSC students with disabilities, students are required to submit documentation and other supporting evidence of their disability. Documentation must show the current diagnosis, the significant functional limitation in a major life activity being impacted for which an accommodation is being requested, and a rationale for why the accommodation is needed.

The following guidelines are provided to assure that documentation is appropriate to verify eligibility and to support requests for reasonable accommodations, academic adjustments, and/or auxiliary aids. UTHSC adheres to the standards set forth by Educational Testing Services (ETS). It is essential that each student understand their responsibility to look at the information provided for the specific type of disability for which they are asking accommodations and make certain that the documentation adheres to those specific guidelines.

General Guidelines - all documentation must include:

  1. Must be on official letterhead, typed and signed by the appropriate credentialed professional.
  2. Must be current. Generally, this means that documentation for ADHD and Learning Disabilities is determined using assessment tools that have been normed on adult (not children).  For mental health disabilities, it is preferable to have documentation from within the 12-months during which the request is being made. We reserve the right to make appropriate modifications to this time frame.

  3. Must include a clear diagnostic statement provided by a properly credentialed professional that establishes the existence of a diagnosis and includes the degree to which the student’s diagnosis substantially limits a major life activity and the manner in which the diagnosis limits the individual’s ability to function in the academic environment.

  4. Must provide a description of the diagnostic methodology,including but not limited to test scores, objective medical data, clinical observations, past academic or professional history, and the student’s actual performance in similar situations.

  5. If recommendations are made, these should include a description of the specific accommodations being recommended and a rationale for each as to why the accommodation(s) may be needed based upon the student’s functional limitation(s).
    • Example: A request for extended time should have documentation that demonstrates difficulty taking tests under timed conditions. In most cases, the documentation should include scores from both timed and extended/untimed tests, to demonstrate any differences caused by the timed conditions.
    • Please Note: If extended test taking time is suggested, the inability to complete an exam is not a sufficient rationale since this does not address the academic need for the accommodation as related to the student’s functional limitation and disability.

Please Note

It must be understood that evaluation reports themselves do not automatically qualify a student for registration or services. After appropriate consultation with the student and the appropriate medical professionals, we will make a decision as to whether reasonable and appropriate accommodations are needed and can be provided to the student.

It is important to note that a prior history of receiving accommodations in previous academic/testing environments is not a guarantee one will be granted accommodations on a high stakes examination. Prior documentation may have been adequate in determining appropriate services or accommodations in the past. However, a prior history of accommodations without demonstration of a current need does not in itself warrant the provision of similar accommodations.

Disability-Specific Documentation Guidelines

In addition to the general guidelines listed above, documentation for a specific disability must also include the following:

Last Published: Sep 21, 2023