1. Understanding Learning Disability Documentation
Ivey West
WAPED Conference
April 2017

2. 12 Tips for Evaluators: Writing Quality Diagnostic Reports **
Documentation should be typed or printed on letterhead, dated, signed and be legible, including your name, title and professional credentials.
Documentation should be recent. Documentation should be no more than five years old for LD and ADHD and 12 months for psychiatric disabilities.
Documentation should include the reason for referral. **
Copyright © 2017 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved .

3. Quality Diagnostic Reports (more)
Documentation should include a listing of all the tests that were used to establish the disability and to support the accommodation requests. Evaluation measures selected for the assessment battery should be reliable, valid and age appropriate.
Documentation should include developmental, educational and medical histories.
The diagnostic report should have a clear statement of the disability. **
Copyright © 2017 by Educational Testing Service.

4. Quality Diagnostic Reports (continued)
7. The report must include a "rule-out" statement.
8. The report should use appropriate measures of achievement.
9. Test results should be clearly stated with all subtests noted.
10. The clinical summary should recap the high points, rule out alternative explanations and summarize how the findings support any "substantial limitation" to a major life activity. **
Copyright © 2017 by Educational Testing Service.

5. Quality Diagnostic Reports (continued)
11. Support for the requested accommodations must be tied to specific test results.
Support for extended testing time should be specifically addressed by the evaluator. **
Copyright © 2017 by Educational Testing Service.

6. Preferred Standardized Tests
Tests of Intellectual Functioning
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-III) ages 6 to 16
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale IV (WAIS-IV) ages 16 and up
Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Cognitive Ability ages 3 to 90 (WJ-III still in use)
Kaufman Adolescent and Adult Intelligence Test ages 11 to 85

7. Preferred Tests (continued)
Achievement Tests
Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Achievement (WJ-III in use)
Wechsler Individual Achievement Test III (WIAT-III) (4 to 50)
Gray Oral Reading Test (GORT-5th Ed) (ages 6 to 23-11)
Nelson-Denny Reading Test (Form G or H) high school & college age
Test of Written Language (TOWL-4) (ages 9 to 17-11)
Test of Adolescent and Adult Language (TOAL-4) (ages 12 to 24-11)

8. Preferred Tests (continued)
Standardized Tests of Attention
Brown Attention Deficit Disorder Scale (BADD)
ages 3 to adult
Conners Adult ADHD Rating Scale-Self Report (CAARS) Long Form ages 18 and up
Test of Variable Attention (TOVA) ages 4 to 80
Wender Utah Rating Scale (for adults)

9. Less frequently used tests
Intellectual Functioning:
Standford-Binet 5 (SB5) ages 5 to 85
Tests of Non-Verbal Intelligence (TONI-4) ages 6 to 89. Directions in many languages.
Achievement:
Woodcock-Reading Mastery Tests-Revised ages 4 to 89.
Comprehensive Tests of Phonological Processing (CTOPP) ages 4 to 24
Test of Language Development (TOLD I) ages 8 to 17:11

10. Interpreting the Scores
Broad and “cluster” scores provide overall scales.
Look at the individual subtest scores. Group them yourself if the report writer has not done that.
Look for patterns and exceptions to those patterns.
Read to see if the evaluator has addressed the exceptions.

11. The DSM-IV Definition of a Specific Learning Disorder Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, pages American Psychiatric Association, 2013.
“Difficulties learning and using academic skills, as indicated by the presence of at least one of the following symptoms that have persisted for at least 6 months, despite the provision of interventions that target those difficulties:” [followed by six symptoms and multiple subheadings]
With impairment in reading
With impairment in written expression
With impairment in mathematics
Specify current severity: Mild, Moderate, Severe

12. Formal Discrepancy Model ? (See WA SPI Table in Appendix A)
Superintendent of Public Instruction provides the table for districts to use if they wish. Pro’s—Takes subjective decision making out of the process. Con’s—Takes subjective decision making out of the process.

13. Sample “W” Female, age 30 years, 1 month
Public school education. BS in Biology from UPS
First diagnosed as SLD in 3rd grade.
Early intervention and steady pattern of extra tutoring.
School-long history of extra time on exams, including SAT’s and ACT’s.
Needs to have assessment updated for GMAT’s.

14. Sample “W” WAIS-IV Verbal comprehension (VCI) 116 or 86th percentile
Perceptual Reasoning (PRI) or 98th percentile
Working Memory (WMI) or 87th percentile
Processing Speed (PSI) or 77th percentile
Full Scale (FSIQ) or 95th percentile

15. Sample “W” WAIS-IV subtest scores
Verbal Comprehension
Similarities 91st percentile
Vocabulary 75th percentile
Information 84th percentile
Perceptual Reasoning Subtests
Block Design 91st percentile
Matrix Reasoning 95th percentile
Visual Puzzles 99th percentile
Figure Weights 75th percentile

16. Sample “W” WAIS-IV subtest scores
Working Memory Subtests
Digit Span 75th percentile
Arithmetic 91st percentile
Letter-No. Sequencing 50th percentile
Processing speeding
Symbol Search 63rd percentile
Coding 84th percentile

17. Sample “W” Achievement Subtest Scores
Woodcock-Johnson III Reading subtests (not timed)
Letter-Word ID SS th percentile
Passage Comp. SS th percentile
Word Attack SS th percentile
Reading Vocabulary SS th percentile
Nelson Denny Reading (timed)
Vocabulary 39th percentile
Comprehension 17th percentile
Rate nd percentile

18. Sample W, Achievement Subtest Scores
Woodcock-Johnson III Writing Skills
Spelling SS nd percentile
Editing SS nd percentile
Punctuation & Caps SS th percentile
Woodcock-Johnson III Oral Language Skills
Picture Vocabulary SS th percentile
Oral Comp. SS th percentile
Story Recall SS th percentile

19. Sample W, Fluency (Speed) Subtest Scores
WJ-III
Reading SS st percentile
Math SS th percentile
Writing SS st percentile
Nelson Denny Reading
Rate nd percentile