Students requesting services from Disability Support Services (DSS) at Montgomery College are required to submit documentation to determine eligibility in accordance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.  The following guidelines are provided in the interest of assuring that documentation is complete and accurate.  DSS reserves the right to determine eligibility and appropriate services based on the quality, recency, and completeness of the documentation submitted.  All documentation is confidential and will be maintained by DSS.

A list of local resources for students with learning disabilities and/or ADD/ADHD (60KB - .pdf) or in MSWord (90KB - .doc) is available from the DSS office or from this website. Several of the resources offer testing for students who wish to be diagnosed or need updated documentation. Some offer services on a "sliding scale" depending on income.

Guidelines for Learning Disabilities: (Review the checklist below)

__	A psycho-educational or neuropsychological evaluation that provides a diagnosis of a specific learning disability must be submitted.  A statement indicating the current (eleventh/twelfth grade) status and impact of the learning disability in an academic setting should be included.  If another diagnosis is applicable (e.g., ADD/HD, mood disorder), it should be stated.
__	The evaluation must be performed by a professional who is certified/licensed in the area of learning disabilities.  The evaluator’s name, title, and professional credentials and affiliation should be provided.
__	The evaluation should be based on a comprehensive assessment battery: Aptitude:  Average broad cognitive functioning must be demonstrated on an individually administered intelligence test, administered during high school tenure, such as the WAIS-R, WAIS-III, WISC-R, WISC-III, or WJ-R Cognitive Battery.  Subscales/subtests scores should be listed. Academic Achievement:  A comprehensive academic achievement battery, such as WJ-R, must document achievement deficits relative to potential.  The battery should include current levels of academic functioning in relevant areas, such as reading (comprehension, decoding), oral and written language, and mathematics.  Standard scores, grade levels, and percentages for subtests administered should be stated. Information Processing:  Specific areas of information processing (e.g., short- and long term memory, auditory, and visual perception/processing, executive functioning) should be assessed. Social-Emotional Assessment: To rule-out a primary emotional basis for learning difficulties and provide information needed to establish appropriate services, a social-emotional assessment, using formal assessment instruments and/or clinical interview, should be conducted. Clinical Summary:  A diagnostic summary should present a diagnosis of a specific learning disability; provide impressions of the testing situation; interpret the testing data; indicate how patterns in cognitive ability, achievement, and information processing reflect the specific learning disability; recommend specific accommodations based on disability-related deficits; and rule out alternative explanations for and include factors contributing to academic difficulties.
__	For students just graduating high school, an evaluation reflecting current levels of academic skills should have been administered while in high school; for students who have been out of school for a number of years, documentation will be considered on a case by case basis. Students may be required to submit up-dated information and/or documentation.
__	Additional documents that do not constitute sufficient documentation, but that may be submitted in addition to a psychological, psycho-educational, or neuropsychological evaluation are: an individualized educational plan (IEP), a 504 plan, and/or an educational assessment.