National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

March 3, 1997

Accommodations for learning disabilities explained in mailing

Information explaining accommodations available to a student with a learning disability will be mailed in April to students who have requested the information.

Divisions I and II institutions also will receive the information.

The NCAA staff has prepared a brochure explaining accommodations for and efforts to support students with learning disabilities. The brochure is designed to assist those students working their way through the NCAA initial-eligibility process.

Prospective student-athletes who checked a box on the student release form for the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse will receive the information, along with those who have contacted the NCAA national office for information. The release form is filed with the clearinghouse when a student registers.

Included in the packet going to high-school students is a list of actions students may take to receive accommodations for a learning disability, a disability documentation form, and a waiver-intent form. A waiver application form will be mailed to students who return the waiver-intent form.

While initial-eligibility standards are the same for all student-athletes, including those with learning disabilities, the NCAA has worked during the past year to develop accommodations for students who have been diagnosed as learning disabled.

Accommodations include:

Use of nonstandard test scores for meeting initial-eligibility standards when approved by the NCAA;

Acceptance by the clearinghouse as core courses of approved high-school courses designed specifically for students with learning disabilities. High schools are in the process now of submitting information to the clearinghouse regarding classes they consider core courses for NCAA purposes. A worksheet dealing specifically with courses offered for students with learning disabilities is available this year to assist high schools in getting such courses approved as core courses.

Use of core courses taken after the eighth semester of high school to meet initial-eligibility standards. Learning-disabled students now can take courses in summer school following graduation and before full-time college enrollment.

Case-by-case review of all initial-eligibility waiver requests by the NCAA Council Subcommittee on Initial-Eligibility Waivers for students with learning disabilities.

Direct appeals by learning-disabled students to the subcommittee, rather than requiring appeals to be made through an NCAA member institution.

Availability of a brochure titled "Putting Dreams into Action" to educate student-athletes, parents, high schools and colleges about the accommodations available for students with learning disabilities.

Use of a consultant to assist in evaluation of diagnoses of learning disabilities.

Documentation required

To receive accommodations for a learning disability, a student must file with the NCAA learning-disability services staff a completed disability documentation form; a copy of a signed professional diagnosis of the disability, including diagnostic test results; and a copy of the student's current Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or 504 Plan.

Through review of documentation of a learning disability, the NCAA will be able to determine whether a student will be able to use courses for students with learning disabilities that are designated on the high school's list of core courses as approved by the clearinghouse. Documentation also may allow the student to use NCAA-approved nonstandard ACT or SAT scores to meet initial-eligibility requirements.

Included in the packet is a waiver-intent form, which can be completed by a student who may not meet the exact initial-eligibility standards. By submitting the waiver-intent form to the national office, the student is indicating that he or she intends to request a waiver of the initial-eligibility rules if he or she doesn't meet the exact standards.

The waiver-intent form lets colleges and universities interested in recruiting that student know that the student intends to file the waiver. In such a case, the institution will not need to file a waiver on behalf of the student (until legislation permitting otherwise was adopted at the 1997 NCAA Convention, only a member institution could file the waiver on behalf of the student).

The waiver request itself cannot be submitted to the national office until the student has graduated from high school and has received notification from the Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse -- a 48C form -- that he or she has been designated as a qualifier or nonqualifier for athletics participation.

If the clearinghouse determines that the student does not meet the initial-eligibility standards and therefore is a nonqualifier, the student can submit a waiver application directly to the NCAA, asking that the initial-eligibility rules be waived.

With the application, the student must submit a final high-school transcript, a final 48C form and the information documenting the learning disability (if the student has not already filed that information with the national office).

Review of waiver requests

Once that information is received, the initial-eligibility subcommittee will review the waiver request. Factors that the subcommittee may consider include, but are not limited to, the following:

The extent to which failure to meet a criterion can be attributed to the learning disability;

Whether noncore courses taken have been specified in the student's IEP or approved by a state or local government as satisfying graduation requirements for students with learning disabilities;

Likelihood that noncore courses taken will prepare the student to complete successfully a planned course of study at a particular college or university;

Assessments by the high-school principal, guidance counselor and teachers as to whether the student is likely to succeed academically in college while participating in an athletics program; and

Comments -- written or oral -- from the student reflecting the level of knowledge that he or she has acquired in high school, which may be helpful in predicting his or her ability to succeed in college.