Academic Support Services Documentation Guidelines
In addition to the students’ declaration of disability and need for accommodation, PASS requires current and complete documentation from the student’s diagnosing and treating clinician. Qualified clinicians are licensed, non-familial, follow established practices in the field, and are most often physicians, licensed psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, or licensed therapists. For clinical assessments, the professional conducting the assessments and rendering diagnoses must have comprehensive training regarding the specific disability being addressed.
Documentation must describe how the disability limits one or more major life activities and to what extent the student experiences disability-related, academic, housing, or campus limitations. It should also be written within a reasonable time frame, relative to the disability. If your medical provider is submitting a letter in lieu of the Academic Accommodation Documentation Form, it should contain ALL of the following information:
- Student’s name, ID number, and date of birth
- Name, Title, Licensing State(s) and Number, Address, Area of Specialization, and Signature of qualifying, diagnosing clinician
- Medical/clinical diagnosis as listed in the DSM-5 or ICD-10
- Explanation and/or basis for diagnosis (tests, clinical interview, observations, history)
- Onset of condition, date clinician first treated student, most recent visit, expected duration of disability, and other relevant educational, developmental, and medical history
- Current functional limitations
- Statement of the extent to which limitations are mitigated by treatment and side effects of treatment if any.
- If making recommendations for specific accommodations: Justification for each recommended accommodation and the direct relationship to the functional limitations must be produced.