Course Subs & Accommodations

• Diagnostic reports must be on letterhead paper and include the licensed professional’s name, title, Professional credentials, dates, and signature.
  
  
• Licensure information should include the licensed professional’s area of specialization and the name of the province or state in which he/she has a license to work.
  
  
• Licensed professionals conducting an assessment must be qualified to do so and it is essential that they have experience in working with the adult population.
  
  
• Licensed professional must state clearly the specific diagnosis of the disability, avoiding vague, nonspecific, or inclusive terms.
  
  
• The diagnostic report must specify the degree of current functional loss and/or the functional limitations caused by the disability.
• The diagnostic report must include anticipated effects of the functional limitations within the academic setting.
• If a student takes medications, the licensed professional should list them and delineate their potential side effects.Reports should include suggested academic accommodations.
• The documentation should be within the last three years. However, SDS reserves the right to make modifications to this requirement.
• Student Accessibility Services will not accept DOCTORS PRESCRIPTION PAD NOTES as documentation or IEPs!
• Additional Documentation Guidelines

• Documentation must be in the form of a medical report or physician’s letter.
• The student must also submit an audio-logical report.
• An audiologist or other appropriate medical physician should make a medical diagnosis.
• Percentage of hearing impairment in narrative form and recommendation of services needed by the student should be included in the medical documentations.

• Documentation must be in the form of either a medical report or physician’s letter.
• An appropriate physician qualified to make the diagnosis must make medical diagnosis.

• Documentation must be in the form of a psychological report or a neuropsychological report.
• A psychologist, psychiatrist, or licensed mental health practitioner should make diagnosis.
• There must be a specific diagnosis that is consistent with the diagnostic criteria found in the “American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5^th Edition (DSM-V).”

• Documentation must be in the form of a medical report or physician’s letter.
• A speech pathologist or other appropriate medical physician must make the diagnosis.

• Documentation must be in the form of a medical report or physician’s letter.
• An ophthalmologist or other appropriate medical physician must make the diagnosis.

It is unacceptable to administer just one test for the purpose of diagnosis. Minimally, the domains to be addressed should include (but not be limited to) the following test measures.

• Aptitude: Includes the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R), and the Woodcock-Johnson Psychoeducational Battery - Revised Tests of Cognitive Ability.
• Information Processing: Includes the Detroit Tests of Learning Aptitude - 3 (DTLA-3), and Woodcock-Johnson Psychoeducational Battery – Revised Tests of Cognitive Ability.
• Academic Achievement: Includes Stanford Test of Academic Skills and Woodcock Johnson Psychoeducational Battery Revised: Tests of Achievement.
• The Wide Range Achievement Test-3 (WRAT-3) is not a comprehensive measure of achievement and therefore is not useful if used as the sole measure of achievement.
• A school plan such as an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or a ”504 Plan” alone is insufficient documentation to support a student’s eligibility for accommodations and/or services through CAS.
• Documentation should be in the form of a psychoeducational or neuropsychological report.
• Diagnostic reports must include written summaries or background information about a student’s education, and pertinent or relevant medical and family histories that relate to his/her learning disability.
• Relevant test scores must be included and interpreted within the body of the report.
• All diagnoses of specific learning disabilities must be clear and explained in writing.

• Documentation must be in the form of a psychological report or a neuropsychological report. 
• A psychologist, psychiatrist, or licensed mental health practitioner should make diagnosis. 
• There must be a specific diagnosis that is consistent with the diagnostic criteria found in the “American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5^th Edition (DSM-V).”

Persons who are learning impaired, visually impaired, dyslexic or who have a specific learning disability are eligible for reasonable substitution for any requirement. Documentation must be provided that the person' s failure to meet the admission requirement is related to the disability.

Please contact the Counseling and Accessbility office for a current list of programs.

Rule 6A-10.04l, FjtC., defines certain disabilities. (Note that it does not provide a definition for dyslexia, which the college should establish).

• Hearing Impairment. A hearing loss of thirty (30) decibels or greater, pure tone average of 500, 1000, 2000 Hz, ANSI, unaided, in the better ear. Examples include, but are not limited to, conductive hearing impairment or deafness, sensorineural hearing impairment or deafness, high or low tone hearing loss or deafness, acoustic trauma hearing loss or deafness.
  • Examples: Introductory conference with the students seeking substitutions, students' submission of documentation of their disabilities, and/or primed invitation on the notice of admissions for persons with disabilities to contact the college coordinator for determination of eligibility.
• A mechanism for identifying reasonable substitutions for criteria for admission to the institution, admission to a program of study, entry to upper division, or graduation related to each disability.
  • Examples: Course Substitutions Committee, recommendation by the academic department chair and/or the director/coordinator of services for students with disabilities, and/or authorization by the chief academic officer of the college.

• A mechanism for making the designated substitutions known to affected persons.
  • Examples: Individual letter or consultation, college catalog, orientation packet, brochures, bulletin boards, student handbook, the Internet (Home Page), and/or published course list.

• A mechanism for making substitution decisions on an individual basis.
  • Examples: Review committee and/or authorization by chief academic officer of the college.

• A mechanism for a student to appeal denial of a substitution or a determination of eligibility.
  • Examples: Appeals process initiated by the student's submission of a written request for appeal, Appeals Committee review, or students letter to the appropriate college officer.

Substitutions shall be provided in the areas of admission to college, admission to a program of study, graduation or entry into the upper division.

The colleges are required by Rule 6A-lO.04l(3), F.A..C., to accept all substitutions previously granted by a state Postsecondary institution. The rule requires that the college have a policy which provides for articulation with other state institutions which shall include, at a minimum, acceptance of all substitutions previously granted by a state Postsecondary institution.

Each college should determine, when it is the sending institution as to its students, whether the substitutions that it provided to its students will be accepted by the receiving institutions, and advise its students accordingly.

Rule 6A-l0.04l(5), F.A.C., requires each college to maintain records on the number of substitutions identified as available for each documented disability and the number of requests for substitution which were denied.

Rule 6A- 10.041:
Requires those involved with post secondary education to develop and implement policies and procedures, including documentation for providing reasonable substitution. This rule defines "hearing impairment," "visual impairment," and "specific learning disability." It also requires mechanisms to: identify persons eligible for reasonable substitution; identify and inform affected persons of the reasonable substitutions; decide substitutions on an individual basis; and allow the appeal of a denial or an ineligibility determination.

Rule 6C-6.018 in part provides:
In determining whether to grant a substitution or modification, a university will consider pertinent documents including, but not limited to, a physician's statement, vocation rehabilitation records, and school records maintained as a result of the exceptional child provisions of [the law].

Each university will provide the student the opportunity to present evidence to support his or her disabilities, and an appeals process.

In 1997, the Florida Legislature, enacted section 240.4041, Florida Statutes. This section provides that a student with a documented disability, as defined by the ADA, is eligible to be considered for state financial aid while attending a public university on a part-time basis.

Equal Rights:
Other sections of the statutes of interest include sections 413.08 and 760.50, Florida Statutes.

Among other things, section 413.08 guarantees equal public accommodations in transportation and lodging for the deaf, hearing impaired, blind, visually handicapped and otherwise physically disabled. Rights are provided for being accompanied by a trained service or guide dog, or a trained nonhuman primate for persons with paraplegia or quadriplegia. Public employment and housing accommodation rights also are fully described in this section.

Part 760.50:
Extends the grant of every protection available for those with disabilities to persons with or perceived as having acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS); AIDS-related complex; or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).