A Canada-Wide Examination of the Criteria Employed for Learning Disability Documentation in English Speaking Postsecondary Institutions

Abstract

An examination was conducted to address issues concerning the assessment of students with learning disabilities (LD) in English speaking Canadian postsecondary institutions. These issues concern the nature of appropriate and evidence-based assessment and whether there is fair access to academic accommodations for students with LD. Access to academic accommodations is granted when an acceptable psycho-educational assessment provides an LD diagnosis, but what “acceptable” means appears very inconsistent across settings. This examination has ascertained that there is still no commonly accepted and empirically based procedure for the assessment of LD. Instead, a confusing variety of assessment practices exist, resulting in Canadian postsecondary accommodations practices being opaque and, therefore, discriminatory and vulnerable to legal challenges.