Guidelines for Emotional Health Disabilities

If you have an emotional health / psychological disability

Students who are requesting support services from the Office of Accessible Educational Services (AES) at Indiana University Southeast are required to submit documentation to verify eligibility under the American Disabilities Act of 1990.

Documentation guidelines

The following guidelines are provided in the interest of ensuring the documentation is complete and appropriate. The diagnosis must be done by a licensed mental health professional such as a psychologist or a psychiatrist and must include the license number. The diagnostician must be an impartial individual who is not a family member of the student.

Further assessment by an appropriate professional may be required if coexisting learning disabilities or other disabling conditions are indicated.

If any problems arise while the student is at Indiana University Southeast, a letter from the licensed mental health professional must be provided that says the student is stable and able to resume living in an academic environment.

  1. A clear statement of the disorder, including DSM-V diagnosis and a summary of present symptoms.
  2. Documentation for eligibility should be current; it cannot be more than two years from the date of registration with the Office of Disability Services.
  3. A summary of assessment procedures and evaluation instruments used to make the diagnosis and a summary of the evaluation results, including standardized or percentile scores.
  4. Medical information relating to the student’s needs to include the impact of medication on the student’s ability to meet the demands of the postsecondary environment.
  5. A statement of the functional impact or limitations of the disorder on learning or other major life activity and the degree to which it impacts the individual in the learning context for which accommodations are being requested.

Further assessment by an appropriate professional may be required if coexisting learning disabilities or other disabling conditions are indicated.

If any problems arise while the student is at Indiana University Southeast, a letter from the licensed mental health professional must be provided that says the student is stable and able to resume living in an academic environment.

  1. Names of the assessment instruments used.
  2. Quantitative and qualitative information which supports the diagnosis.
  3. The areas of educational impact and the severity of the condition.
  4. Recommendations for prescriptive treatments.
  5. Notation of medications prescribed, if any, and potential impact on learning.
  6. Additional observations/recommendations which could assist us in adequately serving the student.
  7. The names, titles, addresses, and phone numbers of the evaluator(s), as well as date(s) of testing.

How to submit documentation

Documentation may be submitted by email to ods@ius.edu, dropped off at the Office of Accessible Educational Services between Monday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or via snail mail. Our office is located in the Academic Success Center in University Center South, Room 207.

Note: To keep your medical information private, please do not slide documentation under the door when the office is closed. 

Reviewing your request

The aforementioned guidelines are provided so that AES can respond appropriately to the individual needs of the student. AES reserves the right to determine eligibility for services based on the quality of the submitted documentation.

Please note that in reviewing the specific accommodation requested by the student or recommended by the physician/evaluator, AES may find that while a recommendation is clinically supported, it is not the most appropriate accommodation given the requirements of a particular student’s academic program. In addition, AES may also propose clinically supported accommodations that would be appropriate and useful for the student, but which neither the student nor the evaluator have requested.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to email the Coordinator of the Office of Accessible Educational Services at ods@ius.edu, or call (812) 941-2243.