Specific
How many times have you set a goal for yourself only to realize that, though your goal is something you feel passionately about, you just don’t know where to start to make it happen? Often this difficulty arises when our goals are vague or general, such as, “I want to get better grades,” or “I want more balance between work (or school) and my family and friends.” These are great aspirations and guiding thoughts, but they don’t include much structure to help guide you towards reaching that goal. Making sure your goal is specific can help tremendously in figuring out where to start in order to reach your goal. For example, saying, “I want to learn the jive,” is much more specific than saying, “I want to learn to dance,” in the same way that “I want to improve my Chemistry grade,” is more specific than “I want to get better grades.”

Measurable
Once you have a specific goal identified, the next step is to make that goal measureable; in other words, identify a specific way to measure your progress. I can think of many times when I set goals for myself only to get frustrated when I wasn’t able to see any progress towards the goal. People tend to respond best when we see that the work we are putting towards something is paying off in some way, and making your goals measurable is one way to keep that motivation and inspiration going. A measurable step towards improving a Chemistry grade may be, “I will study Chemistry for one hour three nights per week.” A measurable step towards learning the jive may include taking jive dance lessons two nights each week for the next month. Perhaps a measurable goal for finding more balance between work and family or friends could include turning off your cell phone and not checking email between 6:00 and 8:00 at night.

Attainable
Setting measurable goals is only effective if the goal is also something that you can actually achieve. Think about setting goals that aren’t so lofty that the likelihood of success is pretty low, but you also don’t want goals that are too easy because you may not value them as much. Is your goal possible? Do you believe you can reach your goal? If the answer to either of those questions is “No,” then it might be worth reworking your goal into something that will be achievable and that you do believe you can accomplish. Through this process you may also need to identify what you are willing to give up in order to accomplish your goal. Are you willing to give up that favorite t.v. show to study Chemistry? Are you willing to have more emails to respond to the next morning if you turn off your computer and phone in the evening?

Realistic/Relevant
Part of evaluating how attainable your goal is includes evaluating if your goal is realistic and relevant to your life right now. For a goal to be relevant it must matter to you. Does your goal matter? Does it feel important? If I said, “I want to be an award winning jive dancer within the next six months,” you could say that my goal is specific, measurable, and possibly attainable, if (and it is a big IF) I were dancing day in and day out with the best instructors with no distractions from other parts of my life and no with no injuries. With all of these caveats and as someone who has never danced the jive, this goal is likely not realistic. If you have a job that requires that you be on-call to others during the evening hours, setting a goal of turning off your phone and computer every night may not be realistic. In these situations, you may need to reconsider a measurable goal that will be realistic and relevant in the context of your life at this time.

Timely
Speaking of time, setting a time frame for reaching your goal can be very helpful for motivating you and keeping you on task. As we have already discussed, the time frame should be realistic, and you may also need to break your goals into smaller time-bound steps in order to reach them. For example, I may set a goal of attending jive lessons two times per week for three months. After those three months are up (or when I am getting close to the deadline), I will set another goal of attending jive dance classes three times per week during the next session which lasts eight weeks.

Putting the pieces of SMART goals together will increase the likelihood that you will be able to reach these aspirations you have for yourself during the upcoming year. We don’t generally set goals that we don’t want to reach and walking through this SMART process will hopefully help you reach those goals and continue to improve your life.

In order to provide students with academic accommodations, colleges generally need some sort of documentation from an appropriately qualified professional to clarify what accommodations may be needed and why. There are no legal guidelines about what documentation a student must provide in order to receive academic accommodations and the guidelines for each college or university may vary. Although there are no hard and fast rules for what to include in your documentation, AHEAD (Association on Higher Education and Disability, 2010) has identified seven elements in the best practices of documentation.

1. Credentials of the evaluator: Evaluators must be properly credentialed to evaluate the specific needs of the individual for whom they are recommending accommodations. Psychologists may provide documentation regarding mental health concerns possibly including mood disorders, anxiety disorders, pervasive developmental disorders, cognitive impairment, or the like. Psychologists could not, for example, provide documentation for a student seeking accommodations for a hearing impairment; an audiologist would be a more appropriate evaluator in that case. The credentials of your evaluator will depend on the type of condition that impacts your learning.

2. A diagnostic statement: The documentation should include a statement of the functional impairment caused by the symptoms. In other words, how do the symptoms affect your (the student’s) functioning? The manner in which the impairment was diagnosed, as well as the progression of the condition, are also important. The assignment of a specific diagnosis is less important than a description of your symptoms and the related impairment on your functioning.

3. Description of methodology: How was the impairment diagnosed? Was testing conducted? If so, what measures did were used? Was the impairment assessed through an interview and self-report forms? Your evaluator should simply describe the process she or he completed to arrive at your diagnosis. In some cases, such as with a psychological evaluation, this section may be quite long, in other cases it may be shorter.

4. Current functional limitations: How are you doing now? How are the symptoms currently affecting your functioning? The Amendments to the American’s with Disabilities Act (U.S. Department of Justice, 2008) clarified that an individual may qualify for accommodations even if mitigating resources (such as medication) have been effective or if the condition is currently in remission.

5. Progression or stability of the condition: What might this condition look in the long-term? Short-term? What is the prognosis for your symptoms?

6. Current or past accommodations, medications, or services: What treatment have you received in the past? Are you currently on medications? Have you received academic accommodations in the past? This information can be particularly helpful for identifying successful interventions to continue using or interventions that have not been successful in the past. Your evaluator should ask you these questions during your interview or evaluation with him or her in order to provide the most clear description of previous and current successful (or unsuccessful) interventions.

7. Recommendations: Based on all of the above information, what services or accommodations does your evaluator believe might be most helpful for you? The goal is to identify accommodations that may remove barriers that result from the functional impairment and while allowing you to truly demonstrate your full knowledge.

Providing your evaluator with a copy of this checklist may help her or him ensure that all of the necessary information is available in the documentation provided, which, in turn, will increase the likelihood that the disability services offices at your college or university will have everything they need to determine your eligibility for accommodations based on their documentation guidelines. As always, if you have any questions about the accommodations process or the necessary documentation for your school, contact the disabilities office as soon as possible for clarification. They love to hear from you!

This information was included in a publication for members of the Oregon Psychological Association. A full copy of the article can be requested by contacting Dr. Rapkoch via email or phone. Additional information regarding best practices in documentation and academic accommodations in higher education can be obtained from the Association on Higher Education and Disability at www.ahead.org.

Association for Higher Education and Disability. (2010). AHEAD best practices: Disability documentation in higher education. Retrieved July 29, 2010 from http://www.ahead.org/resources/best-practices-resources.

Rapkoch, E. M. (2010, July/Aug). Navigating academic accommodations in higher education: Tips from a former disability services provider. The Oregon Psychologist: Bulletin of the Oregon Psychological Association, 29 (4), 5-9.

Starting college is very exciting, but can also be stressful for so many reasons: possibly moving away from home, increased independence, more challenging classes, financial concerns, and balancing your academic life with work and other responsibilities. Starting college can be particularly stressful for students with learning differences, mental health concerns, physical or medical conditions, or visual, hearing, or motor impairments. If one of these conditions affects your learning, you may be eligible for academic supports or accommodations in college. Despite needing to follow a couple of extra steps, rest assured that with planning and attention over the summer you can increase the likelihood of a smooth transition into this new phase of your life. Here are a few pieces of information that may help with that transition:

1)      First and foremost, in order to receive accommodations YOU (the student) are responsible for informing the college that you need those supports. Contact the office responsible for overseeing academic accommodations as soon as you possibly can…disability officers love hearing from incoming students over the summer because it gives time to prepare!

2)      Most colleges have documentation guidelines that are used to determine if your condition qualifies you for accommodations. Request these guidelines as early as possible in order to have enough time to seek any additional documentation of your condition if needed (letters from doctors or psychological evaluations, for example).

3)      Confidentiality and information sharing is very different in college than in high school. In high school, most information must go through the parents; however, in most situations, college staff can only share information with parents if the student has given written permission. Conversations between parents and students about expectations in regards to information sharing before school starts can prevent frustration and confusion down the road.

4)      It takes time to get certain accommodations in place. Talking early and often with the disability or learning support office at your college if you have specific needs–particularly if those needs involve housing or obtaining assistive technology or resources (e.g. electronic books, notetakers, interpreters)–will make it more likely that those needs will be met at the beginning of the school year with minimal delays.

5)      Taking a flexible approach and keeping communication with the college open and responsive will make problem-solving much easier if difficulties do arise.