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Section 2.22.02: Procedures for Regents Centers for Learning Disorders

SUBJECT: The Regents Centers for Learning Disorders
SOURCE: Memorandum from Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs to Presidents, Chief Academic Officers, Chief Student Officers, 8/18/94, Memorandum from Senior Vice Chancellor to Academic and Student Affairs Vice Presidents, 06/04/99, Memorandum from Vice Chancellor for Academic, Faculty and Student Services, 10/2001, Memorandum from Vice Chancellor for Academic, Faculty and Student Affairs to Vice Presidents for Academic Affairs and Vice Presidents for Student Affairs listservs, 9/9/02.

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PROCEDURES - THE REGENTS CENTERS FOR LEARNING DISORDERS

PREAMBLE

The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia has established three centers for the provision of assessment, resources, and research related to students within the University System who have learning disorders. These centers are located at Georgia Southern University, The University of Georgia, and Georgia State University. Each Center is responsible to serve designated colleges and universities within a geographic region. The host institution will serve as fiscal agent for the Centers. The director of each Center is responsible to the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, and the Academic Vice President of the host institution is the supervisor of record.

PURPOSES OF CENTERS

1. To provide comprehensive standardized assessments for individuals with learning problems due to a suspected specific learning disability or related disorder recommendations regarding how to best maximize students' functioning in college, and information relevant to addressing requests for special accommodations from the University System or institutional policies.

2. To provide a center for resource and program development for college students with specific learning disabilities or related disorders. To help other institutions of the System for which the Center is responsible to develop similar resources and programs as needed and found to be useful.

3. To develop a unique setting for academic research and clinical training opportunities in graduate level psychology, education and related programs.

STRUCTURE OF CENTERS

1. Centers consist of professional individuals who are specialists in disorders which affect learning and the assessment of adults. Each Center has the following personnel:

   1. Director - The director is responsible for overseeing the daily operation of the Center and for carrying out Regents policy regarding the Centers.

   2. Psychologist - The licensed psychologist oversees the evaluation process, including training, interviewing, scheduling, testing, staffing, and report writing, and makes sure that the professional and ethical standards of the American Psychological Association ("APA") are followed.

   3. Liaison - The liaison promotes and maintains contact between the feeder schools and each Center, assisting in the referral and feedback process of testing, as well as disseminating information, assisting feeder schools in policy development, and providing inservices about students who have disorders which affect learning.

   4. Other qualified personnel are involved directly in interviewing, testing, staffing, and writing reports for students who are evaluated in the Centers.

2. Centers have the following titles:

   1. Regents Center for Learning Disorders at Georgia Southern University
   2. Regents Center for Learning Disorders at Georgia State University
   3. Regents Center for Learning Disorders at The University of Georgia
   
   

3. Feeder schools are distributed to Centers as follows:

   REGENTS CENTERS FOR LEARNING DISORDERS

   GEORGIA SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY:
   Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Albany State University Armstrong Atlantic State University Bainbridge College Coastal Georgia Community College Darton College East Georgia College Georgia Southern University Middle Georgia College Savannah State University South Georgia College Valdosta State University Waycross College	Director: Sue C. Murphy, Ph.D. Georgia Southern University Landrum Box 8019 Statesboro, GA 30460-8019 (912) 681-0100 FAX (912) 681-5380
   GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY:
   Atlanta Metropolitan College Clayton State University Columbus State University Dalton State College Georgia Perimeter College Georgia Highlands College Georgia Southwestern State University Georgia State University Georgia Institute of Technology Gordon College Kennesaw State University North Georgia College & State University Southern Polytechnic State University University of West Georgia	Director: Mary K. Morris, Ph.D. P.O. Box 3995 Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 30302-3995 PH: (404) 413-6245
   UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA:
   Augusta State University Fort Valley State University Gainesville College Georgia College & State University Macon State College Medical College of Georgia University of Georgia	Director: Noel Gregg, Ph.D. University of Georgia 533 Aderhold Athens, GA 30602 (706) 542-4589 FAX (706) 542-4532

   Because of distance learning and non-traditional educational methodologies and programs being offered by various institutions, students can be referred to the RCLD closest to their place of instruction when applicable.

PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS

1. The Centers follow APA professional and ethical standards.

2. Information gathered before, during, and after an evaluation will be kept strictly confidential. Information on individual clients will not be released to any person or institution without written permission of the student. Permission must be given in writing before students are tested and before results of evaluations can be given to parents, teachers, or school administrators.

REASONS FOR REFERRALS

1. Institutional requests for the following accommodations to University System policies must be referred to the Centers:

   1. Substitution of the CPC foreign language requirement

   2. Additional semesters in Learning Support

   3. Regents' Test, Collegiate Placement Examination (CPE), or COMPASS modifications other than those specified by current policy and procedure

   These policies, along with the definition and criteria for evaluation of learning disabilities, are discussed in Section 2.22.01.

2. These requests for accommodations to System Policies must be addressed through a thorough psychological evaluation. This evaluation can be obtained at the Centers or through private outside evaluations based on approved System criteria which are then referred to the Centers for review. An official statement from the Centers will follow the evaluations or outside evaluation reviews, addressing the specific referral questions and outlining appropriate accommodations. In cases in which evaluations are incomplete, this statement cannot be made until all criteria are addressed. The student is responsible for providing the missing components or may be referred to the Center for a complete or up-to-date evaluation.

3. Institutions shall establish policies and procedures for reviewing outside evaluations for students who desire institutional accommodations because of a learning disability but do not need to have a specific System requirement addressed. Institutional policies, procedures, and accommodations must be consistent with Regents policy. The Administrative Committee on Learning Disorders will review and approve all institutional policies and procedures pursuant to this item. Conduct rules and attendance policies apply to all students regardless of disabilities.

4. Students who do not have current evaluations which meet state guidelines may be referred to the Centers for evaluation. At their own expense, they may also obtain an outside private evaluation that meets these criteria. Referral procedures are described in the following sections.

5. Students who are referred for testing or an outside evaluation review must be currently enrolled or accepted for admission in the referring institution. An exception will be students who are applying for admission to an institution and require verification of a disability for institutional admissions consideration or substitution of the CPC foreign language requirement. Referral for testing or evaluation review in these cases should come from the institution at which admission is pending. Except for substitutions of the CPC foreign language courses, no exceptions will be made to the minimal University System admissions requirements for any institution.

REVIEWS OF OUTSIDE EVALUATIONS

The Board of Regents endorsed criteria for the evaluation of learning disabilities in September, 1991. All System institutions should be reviewing outside evaluations for students with learning disorders based on these criteria. These criteria were established in an effort to assure that all institutions of the University System employ the same definition and evaluation model. A simplified and updated version of the criteria for use by System institutions and professionals conducting private evaluations who request the criteria is provided in Section 2.22.03.

REFERRALS FOR EVALUATION

1. In order to assure consistency throughout the System, all Centers use the same general evaluation procedures, test battery, and report format. There may be variations (e.g., requests for additional information, different parking requirements, etc.), depending on institutional needs.

2. When referring students for evaluation, feeder schools are required to submit a referral packet to an RCLD. This pre-assembled packet, provided by the RCLD, contains information about the RCLD and a referral letter/checklist of items included that should be completed by the disability service provider. It also contains several questionnaires to be completed by the student that address current academic strengths and weaknesses, historical information, and past and current behaviors that can affect learning. The packet also contains questionnaires to be filled out by a person who knows the student well, to provide an independent view of the student's functioning. Students will also be asked to provide transcripts from their current institution and/or previous institutions, recent sensory screenings, samples of their written work, and any previous psychological or medical evaluations related to their learning difficulties.

   Individual centers may ask for additional information.

   Feeder schools should assign one individual to be the contact person with the Center liaison, typically from the disability services office. This contact person is responsible for seeing that all of the information in the packet is collected and sent to the Center liaison. Students must be referred to the Center by the contact person at each institution. The Center liaison is responsible for communicating with the feeder school contact after the evaluation takes place concerning appropriate accommodations and other suggestions for assisting the student.

3. Feeder schools may wish to develop their own student-oriented packets to assist students in gathering the required material.

4. All RCLDs use a comprehensive test battery, choosing specific tests based on individual needs and referral questions. All RCLD evaluations address the following domains:

   1. Intellectual abilities

   2. Academic Achievement
      
      1. Reading (decoding, rate, and comprehension)
      2. Mathematics (calculations, reasoning, and algebra)

      3. Written Language (spelling, written expression)

   3. Cognitive Processing Skills
      
      1. Attention
      2. Oral Language
      3. Phonological/Orthographic Processing
      4. Fluency/Automaticity
      5. Memory/Learning
      6. Executive Functions
      7. Visual-Perceptual/Visual-Spatial

      8. Visual-Motor

   4. Social-emotional functioning
      A list of tests used by the RCLDs can be found at: http://www.gsu.edu/~wwwrld/Resources/suggestedmeasures.htm

5. Following each evaluation, a comprehensive report will be written explaining the student's cognitive processing and achievement abilities. These reports will be released only to the student, or to the student's parent or another party upon the student's specific written permission.

6. Letters containing recommendations concerning appropriate accommodations will be sent to the institution which referred the student for evaluation upon written release by the student. These letters will recommend accommodations which would be appropriate.

LIABILITY ISSUES

1. Neither feeder institutions nor Regents Centers are liable for students while they are traveling to and from the Centers for interviews, testing, or feedbacks.

2. A person at each feeder school should be designated as the person to contact in case of emergency while a student is on the Regents Center campus. This person will usually be the Dean of Students.

3. Each Regents Center should require liability insurance coverage for all personnel involved in the evaluation of students coming into the Center. This liability insurance is necessary to meet standards of professional practice as outlined in State Licensing law.

COST OF EVALUATIONS

The fee for the evaluation is $400.00 for students submitting completed applications and deposits after November 1, 2002 and by November 1, 2003. The fee will increase to $500.00 for students submitting completed applications and deposits after November 1, 2003.

SCHEDULE OF OPERATIONS

1. Centers will typically provide a minimum of three-four evaluations per week during each semester.

2. Although Centers will operate between semesters, these periods will be used for interviews and feedback only. Because graduate assistants are primarily involved in testing, evaluations can be conducted only when school is in session.

Last modified: 02/27/2008

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