For Students Seeking Accommodations For Standardized Educational Tests

Here are some important points to consider when deciding whether to bring in a child for evaluation or to undergo evaluation yourself:

•	Just because someone reads or processes information slowly or occasionally makes careless mistakes, he or she is not necessarily learning-disabled or has a serious attention deficit, according to the DSM-IV—the manual of the American Psychiatric Association—and the Americans for Disabilities Act. Difficulties could result from educational deficits as well as emotional and temperamental factors. To obtain accommodations for the testing boards, diagnosed disabilities must meet DSM and ADA criteria for ADHD, reading disorder, writing disorder, mathematics disorder, or a learning disorder-not otherwise specified.
•	Accommodations can be granted for impairment due to medical conditions like diabetes, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, orthopedic problems and psychiatric disorders like bipolar illness. If you are on medication that induces fatigue or restlessness, that may qualify, too. Psychological disorders such as depression and anxiety also can qualify if they impair functioning and the individual has been in therapy prior to the evaluation.
•	The results of an evaluation may surprise you. Going into an assessment, you may think that your functioning is very impaired, but your test scores may show otherwise. In addition, because testing techniques have improved, and some evaluations are more comprehensive than others, a more recent evaluation may generate conclusions different from those found in previous evaluations. For example, someone who thinks he has a reading disability sometimes is found to have an attention deficit, while someone who thinks she has an attention deficit may actually have an anxiety or depressive disorder.
•	Undergoing an evaluation does not mean you have purchased accommodations. The principal purpose of the evaluation is diagnostic. The difficulties presented then must qualify as a disability per the above criteria. Keep in mind that even if you received accommodations in high school, graduate examination boards have stricter criteria and may not grant the same accommodations you received in the past.
•	If you have a medical, psychiatric or neurological disorder, like ADHD, the testing boards require you to submit the evaluation with a letter from your doctor attesting to your problem. A diagnosis, however, is not enough. You must demonstrate that the disorder impairs your functioning.
•	Documentation must be submitted six weeks or more in advance of the date on which you’d like to take the test. So don't wait till the last minute to come for an evaluation.
•	Evaluations for testing accommodations can take much longer and can be more extensive than evaluations for school-related issues. One reason for this is that testing boards require an extensive and detailed personal history regarding functional limitations. Take this into account when you decide when to schedule an evaluation.
•	An evaluation generated for the SAT, GRE, GMAT and other standardized tests will also be accepted by universities abroad as an application for accommodations.