The Office Policies
Documentation Guidelines

The Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) with campuses at Catonsville, Dundalk, and Essex, is committed to the philosophy of nondiscrimination for individuals with disabilities and ensures that all programs and activities of the College are in compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. In order to fully evaluate requests for reasonable accommodations or auxiliary aids in the college environment, CCBC requires documentation of the disability, including an evaluation by an appropriate professional describing the current impact of the disability as it relates to the college environment. It is the student's responsibility to provide this documentation to the appropriate College office, where it will be kept in a confidential file.

For individuals who have recently received services from a public school system, necessary information would most likely be contained in the most recent psychological and educational evaluations. Some of the information may also be contained in an IEP, ARD minutes, Transition Plan or 504 Plan. CCBC recognizes that the specific elements and format of the evaluations will vary. These guidelines are intended to assist students and professionals as they provide information that supports appropriate and reasonable accommodations. Any questions regarding these guidelines may be directed to the appropriate office noted above.

As appropriate to the disability, documentation should include:

1. A diagnostic statement identifying the disability, date of the current diagnostic evaluation, and, when possible, the date of the original diagnosis.

2. A description of the diagnostic criteria and/or diagnostic test(s) used.

3. A description of the functional impact of the disability.

4. Treatments, medications, assistive devices/services currently prescribed.

5. A description of any anticipated change in the functional limitations of the disability over time that could impact on the need for re-evaluation.

6. Information concerning co-morbid conditions as well as conditions that have been ruled out.

7. Additional observations or recommendations which could assist the Office in adequately supporting this student.

8. Signature, date and credentials of the examiner(s) making the diagnosis.

PLEASE NOTE: Recommendations for reasonable accommodations in the academic setting are helpful and will be given due consideration. The aforementioned guidelines are provided so that the disabilities support offices of CCBC can respond appropriately to the individual needs of the student. The disabilities support offices of CCBC reserve the right to determine eligibility for services based on the quality of the documentation submitted.

Students with cognitive disabilities who request support services from disabilities support offices of The Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) are required to submit documentation to verify eligibility under the ADA of 1990 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. These disabilities may include specific disabilities such as learning disabilities (LD), attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), traumatic brain injuries (TBI), and other disabling conditions that affect cognition. In addition to the General Guidelines, the following is provided to ensure that documentation is complete and appropriate:

1. The documentation should include a clinical or medical diagnosis of the disability (according to DSM-IV criteria), its current status, and relevance to the college environment.

2. Evaluations should have been completed within the last 3 years for students just graduating from high school. Individuals 17 years of age or older should have been tested using diagnostic instruments normed for adults. Evaluations more than three years old, or from students who have been out of school for several years, will be reviewed on a case by case basis. The student may be required to submit more recent documentation.

3. The documentation should include the following components of a complete psycho-educational evaluation: Aptitude - a complete intellectual/cognitive assessment with all scaled scores and standard scores reported. Academic Achievement - a comprehensive academic achievement battery with all standard scores reported for all subtests administered. The battery should include current levels of academic functioning in relevant areas such as reading (decoding, spelling, and comprehension), mathematics, and oral and written language. Information Processing - specific areas in information processing and social-emotional functioning should be assessed and areas of strength, weaknesses, and deficits noted. These areas include sensory functions, attention functions, memory functions, language skills, visuospatial skills, motor skills, social-emotional functioning and executive functioning.

4. For a diagnosis of AD/HD, particular attention should be paid to notation of prescribed medications, co-morbid conditions, and additional observations (General Guidelines, numbers 4,6,7.)