View common reasons why disability documentation is deemed insufficient by ETS.
- The current functional limitations are missing from the report. Specifically, the documentation fails to show the impact of the disability on a major life activity.
- The report is limited in scope and content:
- Documentation may be primarily based on an IEP or 504 Plan from high school. Scores may be missing from the report.
- The diagnosis is based on a screening test, or the report presents a single subtest score from the WAIS-IV or the Woodcock-Johnson III that is discordantly low compared with the other subtests in the battery.
- The documentation doesn’t establish that there’s a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. It contains no clear statement of a diagnosis consistent with DSM or ICD.
- There’s an insufficient description of history of a disability (e.g., childhood through college) and how it relates to current problems with academic performance or employment.
- The rationale for requested accommodations is lacking, even though a diagnosed disability exists.
- Accommodations recommended by the evaluator appear to be too sweeping and either over-accommodate the test taker or are based on preferences rather than disability-driven reasons.
- There’s no accommodation history for a particular accommodation being requested and no compelling rationale as to why it;s needed now.
- Documentation doesn’t conform to ETS recency criteria for LD, ADHD or physical and psychiatric disabilities.
- The impact of the disorder appears to be more a relative weakness than a disability that is substantially limiting.
- It appears that the disability doesn’t affect the client in multiple settings.