A. Diagnostic Interview
An evaluation report should include the summary of a comprehensive diagnostic interview. Learning disabilities are commonly manifested during childhood, but not always formally diagnosed. Relevant information regarding the student's academic history and learning processes in elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education must be investigated. The diagnostician, using professional judgment as to which are relevant, should conduct a diagnostic interview which may include: a description of the presenting problem(s); developmental, medical, psychosocial, and employment histories; family histories (including primary language of the home and the student's current level of English fluency); and a discussion of dual diagnosis where indicated.

B. Assessment
The neuropsychological or psycho-educational evaluation for the diagnosis of a specific learning disability must provide clear and specific evidence that a learning disability does or does not exist. Assessment, and any resulting diagnosis, should consist of and be based on a comprehensive assessment battery which does not rely on any one test or subtest. Evidence of a substantial limitation to learning or other major life activity must be provided.

1. Aptitude - A complete intellectual assessment with all subtests and standard scores must be reported. No IQ test or combination of IQ subtests has been proven to be consistently reliable for determining the presence or absence of LD. However, measures of intelligence may be useful in screening the student for gross cognitive deficits and to provide broad profiles of information-processing strengths and weaknesses. Also, the discrepancy between IQ and academic achievement may provide evidence of academic failures that are not attributable solely to cognitive deficits. Commonly used tests for the assessment of aptitude are: Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III); Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery-Revised Tests of Cognitive Ability; and the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (SB-IV).
2. Academic Achievement - A comprehensive academic achievement battery is essential with all subtests and standard scores reported. The battery must include current levels of academic functioning in relevant areas such as reading (decoding and comprehension), mathematics, and oral and written language. Commonly used tests of achievement are: the Woodcock Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery-Revised Tests of Achievement; the Nelson-Denny Reading Test, Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests-Revised. Additional formal and informal tests as well as observations may be integrated with the above assessments to assist in determining the presence of a learning disability and differentiating from co-existing disorders.
3. Information Processing - Specific areas of information processing (e.g., short- and long-term memory, sequential memory, auditory and visual perception/processing, processing speed, executive functioning and motor ability) must be assessed. Use of subtests from the WAIS-III or the cognitive portion of the Woodcock Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery-Revised is acceptable. Additional testing such as the Weschler Memory Scale (WMS-III) , designed to assist in corroborating the existence of processing disorders as identified by the WAIS-III or the Woodcock-Johnson is recommended.

Other assessment measures and assessment procedures or observations may be helpful in determining performance across a variety of domains. Other formal assessment measures may be integrated with the above instruments to help determine a learning disability and differentiate it from co-existing neurological and/or psychiatric disorders (i.e., to establish a differential diagnosis such as ADHD, depression, etc.). In addition to standardized tests, it is also useful to include informal observations of the student during the test administration.

A measurement of personality must be included for a differential diagnoses (to rule out any other conditions).

C. Specific Diagnosis
Individual "learning styles," "learning differences," "academic problems," and "test difficulty or anxiety," in and of themselves do not constitute a learning disability. It is important to rule out alternative explanations for problems in learning such as emotional, attentional, or motivational problems that may be interfering with learning but do not constitute a learning disability. The diagnostician is encouraged to use direct language in the diagnosis and documentation of a learning disability, avoiding the use of terms such as "suggests" or "is indicative of."

D. Test Scores
Standard scores and/or percentiles must be provided for all normed measures. Grade equivalents are not useful unless standard scores and/or percentiles are also included. The data should logically reflect a substantial limitation to learning for which the student is requesting the accommodation. The particular profile of the student's strengths and weaknesses must be shown to relate to functional limitations that may necessitate accommodations.

The tests should be reliable, valid and standardized for use with an adolescent/adult population. The test findings should document both the nature and severity of the learning disability. Informal inventories, surveys and direct observation by a qualified professional may be used in tandem with formal tests in order to further develop a clinical hypothesis.

E. Clinical Summary
A well-written diagnostic summary based on a comprehensive evaluation process is a necessary component of the report. Assessment instruments and the data they provide do not diagnose; rather, they provide important elements that must be integrated by the evaluator with background information, observations of the client during the testing situation, and the current context. It is essential, therefore, that professional judgment be utilized in the development of a clinical summary. The clinical summary must include:

1. Demonstration of the evaluator's having ruled out alternative explanations for academic problems as a result of poor education, poor motivation and/or study skills, emotional problems, attentional problems and cultural/language differences;
2. Indication of how patterns in the student's cognitive ability, achievement, and information processing reflect the presence of a learning disability;
3. Indication of the substantial limitation to learning or other major life activity presented by the learning disability and the degree to which it impacts the individual in the learning context for which accommodations are being requested; and
4. Indication as to why specific accommodations are needed and how the effects of the specific disability are accommodated. Accommodations need to be as specific as possible.

The summary should also include any record of prior accommodation or auxiliary aides, including any information about specific conditions under which the accommodations were used (e.g., standardized testing, final exams, licensing or certification examinations.)