Assessment for Eligibility for Services and Accommodations

A learning disability is a persistent condition of presumed neurological dysfunction that continues despite instruction in standard classroom situations. A person with a learning disability has a significant processing deficit in one or more areas such as memory, verbal skills, non-verbal reasoning/visual-spatial skills or processing speed. Someone with a learning disability has a history of struggling in major subjects like reading, writing, math or listening.

Learning disability assessment is for a student who thinks s/he will need an academic accommodation in order to truly show his/her knowledge in classes at CCSF. For example, you may understand the material well, but you rarely have enough time to finish your tests. This could be for a variety of reasons. The assessment may show a learning profile where extended test time is an appropriate academic accommodation for you.

A learning disability is not having difficulty with a challenging subject like higher-level science or math. It is not a psychological issue like anxiety in test-taking. It is not an attention or focusing issue like ADHD which is a different neurological diagnosis and is assessed by a detailed history of behavior by a doctor and not by aptitude and achievement testing. At the California Community Colleges, we assess for eligibility for services/accommodations. We are not providing a diagnosis or testing because someone is curious about how they learn.