#27 LD Evaluation: What You Should Know

Special shoutout to Feedspot.com for choosing College, Disabilities, and Success as one of the top 15 learning disability podcasts on the web!  Today's episode explains how getting updated LD testing as an adult can be challenging in many ways.  Prices vary, need for updated testing varies, and finding a professional to comlete the testing can be challenging. This podcast explains some of the concerns and issues that young adults and their parents face when arranging updated LD evaluations, and offers some insight and solutions to those challenges.  You will also learn what to expect in your testing report, and some of the key information you should be given. 

Transcript

Mickie  0:00 
Hi everyone. Before we start today, I wanted to take a moment to give a huge shout out to Feedspot.com. They have chosen College, Disabilities, and Success as one of the top 15 learning disability podcasts on the web. So when you get a chance, check them out. I know they'll appreciate it. So thanks, Feedspot. And thanks to all of you who take the time to listen to my podcasts. I truly, truly appreciate you.

I've said all along that the rules change when you get to college. And that is especially true in the case of learning disability evaluations. So today we're going to talk about what you should know before you get new testing done for a learning disability, because you may find out that you don't need it. And I will explain to you why that might be the case. I'll also address two critical questions that come up quite often. How much should you spend for a learning disability evaluation? And how do you go about finding somebody to do the testing for you? So welcome to College, Disabilities, and Success, Episode 27, "LD Testing: What You Should Know", by Mickie Hayes. The opinions in this podcast are my own, please reach out to your college physician or legal services for any additional information.

A learning disability test is called a psychological evaluation. Sometimes it's called a neuropsychological evaluation. And we tend to shorten it and just call it a psych eval. So you may hear it referred to as that as well. Now, a psych eval or psychological evaluation has several components, and it needs to be completed by a psychologist or a neuro psychologist or a specialist. It's not done by a medical doctor. And it's not the same as an ADHD evaluation.

You might be surprised to hear about the number of students that I've had show up at my office with new testing, and they probably didn't need it for our college. And that's the key point that I'm going to start out with. Before you do anything else, if you are planning on getting additional testing, updated testing, when you go to college, talk to the college Disability Services, where you plan to attend. That is extremely important. Under the ADA rules, colleges have a lot more flexibility to decide the parameters that they're going to establish for Disability Services. And you may go to one college where they want additional testing brand new every three years, no questions asked. And then you may go to another college that has no particular parameters on how often they want that testing updated. And then you may go to a college that will look at your old testing and determine if your old testing is something that they could use. So every college is a little bit different in how they set up their guidelines for documentation. So the first thing I would suggest that you do is make an appointment with the Disability Services at the College of your choice and bring in whatever documentation you have, or at least be prepared to talk about whatever documentation you have. And parents don't forget, you're talking about an adult child, and that child needs to be there doing this. They need to go in. They need to talk to the disability specialist. They need to find out the parameters that that college establishes. They may ask you to go with them, that's between you and your child, but they need to be there. This is not something that you can handle with your child not around. And even if they're not 18. If they're still an under 18, teenager, they should be there with you. This is their future that they're getting invested in. So they should be there in those conversations from the very beginning. I've actually had parents who told me they would give me the documentation, but they asked me not to show it to their child. And that is not the real world when your child turns 18. So it's up to you to prepare them, whatever the situation is, before you get into that situation at the college, and you're put on the spot.


When I looked at documentation that people brought in for me to evaluate, one of the first things that I looked at was the data that was on the report, because I want to know not only when that person was tested last, but what kind of norms were used to determine their scores. Norms are simply how you're compared to others. So children need to be compared to children's norms, and adults need to be compared to adult norms in order to determine your current ability levels.

 
LD testing can be done using child's norms or adult norms. And once the individual reaches 18, their testing should be done with adult norms, because that would be a more realistic evaluation of their disability. Now, some colleges may not care if it's adult norms or child norms, and other colleges will not accept it unless it has adult norms. So that's the first thing that you should be aware of when you go to talk to the Disability Services at the college. If your child or you were tested when you in the first grade or third grade, then you will have child norms on your tests because they couldn't use anything else. If you were tested in high school, they may have tested you with adult norms. So that is a critical point. And if you are considering getting new testing done in high school, ask them if they are going to use adult norms on the testing because there's a good chance your college isn't going to do much with it, if it doesn't have adult norms and the only person who can give you that clear and true information is the Disability Services specialist at your college. Because you may even know Well, I had a friend who a few years ago had to have new testing done. So I'll get it done now anyway. Well, it's possible that that college changed its guidelines in the meantime. So don't assume that's something that was told to a friend is the same thing that you're going to hear. So talk to those people at the disability services office before you do anything new. Additionally, you may need updated testing, if you are looking for more specific accommodations. In the K 12 system, the fact that you have been identified with a disability is usually enough to get you most accommodations.

In the college ADA system, if your documentation doesn't support it, there's a very, very good chance that you will not be allowed certain accommodations that you may have had in high school. I remember at one point, I was evaluating an entirely new group of students who had new testing done, and many of them did not show the math disability that they expected, and when I didn't see a math disability on the documentation, I couldn't accommodate with a calculator. Now, in college, most classes use a calculator anyway, but if you were in a very beginning class, in college with developmental education, for example, in math,  you may not have been able to use a calculator. And if you didn't have the disability that showed that you needed it, I couldn't support it. And these are kids who had the calculator all through school. So that's just one example of a situation where the accommodations you had in high school might not match the accommodations that you get in college. And it generally comes down to the documentation that you have. Now my case may have been unique, because it was in accordance with our guidelines at our college, another college may not have those same guidelines. So that's why it's so very, very important that you talk to the people at the College of your choice to see if those are some complications that you might run into based on your documentation. So that is another conversation that you want to have with the disability specialist at that meeting, especially if you know the likelihood of needing very specific accommodations is strong.

One of the other questions that I brought up in the introduction is how do I find somebody who can test me. That is, again, another conversation you want to have with the college disability specialist. Very often, the disability staff at the college has a list of possible people that do LD testing. Now, it doesn't mean they necessarily support that person. And they're not recommending that person. But a lot of times people call the colleges and let them know that they're available for LD testing, in case they have any students who need it. They'll give them the rates that they charge, and possibly some of the information regarding the testing that they'll do. So if you have no clue as to where to even find somebody to give you a test for a learning disability or to give your child a test for a learning disability, talk to the individual at the college disabilities office and see if they can recommend somebody or at least if they have names that they can give you, then it's up to you to do your homework and check on them and see what they do and how much they charge. Also check your insurance, because sometimes individuals have been lucky and their insurance will pay for a learning disability evaluation. So always ask it doesn't hurt. Now, the fees vary all over the map, I have seen testing for $150 $200, and I had a student bring me in a report for a test that they paid $6,000 for. That's about as big of a span as you're going to find in the world of LD testing. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean you have to have a $6,000 test in order to go to college. The testing that they do for a few $100 may be just as acceptable and full of information as the $6,000 test. But it usually comes down to the tests that they give you and the amount of time it's going to take to get that evaluation. Some universities may have testing available on site, but it would not likely be free in I've never heard of a case where it's free evaluation, but it's usually at some sort of a reduced rate. So talk to the people that are doing the testing. Ask them how much their fee is and then ask them if they have any kind of sliding scale that might apply to you and your particular income and financial situation. It doesn't hurt to ask and you may find out that they're willing to work with you.


So let's say you're ready to go take your test. What can you expect? Testing can take several days, several trips in, but it can also be done in a few hours time. And depending on the situation, the individual who's going to evaluate you is going to give you some sort of interview, they need to know what your struggles are, where you're successful, where you constantly have challenges, that helps them to get a handle on the kinds of tests that they need to use, and the kinds of results they anticipate seeing. So the interview is a very important part of the test. You can't beat the system. People that give the tests are very used to testing. And they can tell through the through what they're doing, what kind of results they might expect. This is the time to be honest, to be very honest, during that interview. And during those hours taking the test. Tests are a battery of tests, they will do an IQ test. And they will do academic tests. And they will do cognitive testing. And they may have assorted other scales, and evaluations and assessments that they do as well as part of the battery. But regardless of the tests that they do, when they're finished, you should get a written report.

Now there's a couple of things you want to look for on that report. First of all, it should be on that person's letterhead and signed by the psychologist who did the testing. The learning disability specialist may have to reach out and contact them if they have any questions about the results. So their contact information needs to be on that report. So it'll need to be on a letterhead.  It generally includes a brief history, and then it also should include test data. So the test that you took and the scores that you got, and then it's usually followed by a narrative of some sort to explain those scores in writing. And then it's usually also includes possible interventions or accommodations that might help the individual with a learning disability, the report should also have a diagnosis. In most cases, it's going to be some sort of a coded number, either a DSM code or an ICD code, but there should be some sort of a coded number on the documentation. So when you're going over that report, and you should go over that report with the person that gave the test. Go over the report, have clarity about exactly what that tests means. You would not believe the number of students who brought new testing results to my office and had no clue what they said. And so I would have to sit there with them and go over the results. Because it's not fair to that individual that they have all this documentation and testing done, and they have no clue what it says and what it shows. So be sure that the person who does the testing sets up a time for you all to meet and go over the results of the test. Don't be surprised if the results are not what you expected. I always talked to students and told them, "You're going to pay for this testing regardless. It may show that you have a learning disability. It may show that you don't have one, but either way you have to pay for the testing. So don't be surprised if you go through all that, and it doesn't show what you expected it to show. Now, that doesn't mean that's going to happen. But it can happen. So just be aware of that.

And finally, talk to the individual who tested you. Find out what they suggest you should do to ameliorate or improve your situation, because you go through all of this evaluation, and you get all this information, but you need to know what kind of interventions what kind of accommodations give you equal access to the information and what kind of specialized assistive technology the person who evaluated you suggests because the bottom line in all of this is to make your college experience as accessible to you as possible and to accommodate you according to your needs. So that when all is said and done, you can be the be the proud graduate with a college degree. 

 
Thank you for listening to me today. I hope you found this session worthwhile. If you have any other questions that I didn't talk about in here today, feel free to email me. I'm at Mickie teaches M I C K I E teaches@gmail.com and I will be more than happy to address your question and possibly do another podcast addressing your question. I hope you have a fabulous rest of the day. Take care and we'll talk next time. Bye. The information contained throughout this podcast has been gleaned from my own personal experiences, but to ensure accuracy please contact the Disability Services at the College of your choice to have first hand information and the most up to date policies and procedures followed by your particular institution of higher education. The content in any of these podcasts is not intended as a substitute for information from legal, educational, or medical professionals. Always seek the advice of your attorney or qualified health care provider with any questions you may have with regards to legal, educational, or medical concerns.