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Counseling Services

Students seeking accommodations for learning disabilities need to provide thorough psycho-educational assessment documentation, which is current (within the last three years) and provides a specific diagnosis. Assessment providers include licensed psychologists, neurologists experienced in educational problems, and learning disabilities specialists with credentials allowing the interpretation of the required assessment instruments.

Diagnostic testing should be comprehensive and include a test from each category:

1. Aptitude (for example: WAIS-Revision 3)

2. Achievement (Woodcock Johnson-Revised: Tests of Achievement)

3. Information processing (Woodcock Johnson Revised: Tests of Cognitive Ability; Wechsler Memory Scales)

The report should include:

1. The date of the examination, the clinician’s name, title, license number, telephone number, and address.

2. A summary of educational, medical, and family histories, along with behavioral observations.

3. A summary of the results of all instruments used in the assessment, including standard scores, subtest scores, percentiles, and a detailed interpretation of the results, including strengths and weaknesses.

4. Clearly described intracognitive and/or aptitude-achievement discrepancies and the clinician’s rationale for the diagnosis.

5. A statement of how the learning disability substantially interferes with the student’s educational progress, along with recommendations for appropriate accommodations.

Students with documented learning disabilities will meet with the Director of Educational Support Services to plan how best to work toward a successful semester. Academic accommodations will be designed to meet a student’s disability-related needs without fundamentally altering the nature of the instructional program. The most useful accommodations will address the student’s ability to learn, although some accommodations may also modify the particular ways in which students demonstrate their mastery of course material. Instructors must be satisfied that such accommodations do not lower the teaching standards of the College.

The key to success at Saint Joseph’s College for students with learning disabilities is the relationship built between the student and the professors and between the student and the Director of Educational Support Services. The Director can be very useful in planning learning strategies and aiding the student to cope with the frustrations of college life. Ultimately it is the student’s own perseverance, informed by proven study methods, that will make the largest contribution to success in college classes.