Testing

ADHD Testing for College Students in Grand Rapids: Accommodations and What Schools Require

September 2, 2026 · 9 min read

Last updated September 9, 2026

Every September, testing centers get a run of calls that sound the same. A student made it through high school on effort, structure, and a parent who kept the calendar, and then the first month of college removed all three at once. Grades are slipping, the disability office wants documentation, and nobody is sure what documentation means. This is a guide to that situation for students at Grand Valley, Calvin, GRCC, Aquinas, Cornerstone, Davenport, Hope, and the other schools within reach of Grand Rapids.

What changes at college

In K-12, the school is responsible for finding and serving students with disabilities. An IEP or 504 plan follows the student from grade to grade with the school doing most of the work. At college that flips. The Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 still apply, but the student has to self-identify, request accommodations, and provide documentation. A high school IEP is useful history, but almost no college accepts it on its own as proof of a current disability.

What disability offices usually ask for

Names vary (Disability Support Resources at GVSU, Disability Services or Accessibility Services elsewhere), and each office publishes its own documentation guidelines, so read the specific page for your school. The requirements tend to converge on the same list: a diagnosis of ADHD made by a qualified professional, a description of how the evaluation was done, evidence of how the condition currently limits the student academically, and specific recommended accommodations tied to those limitations. Many offices prefer an evaluation done within the last three to five years, though the ADA Amendments Act has pushed schools toward flexibility on age of documentation. If your only paperwork is a pediatrician’s note from eighth grade, expect to be asked for more.

What a college-ready evaluation contains

The report should state the DSM-5-TR diagnosis and the presentation type, summarize the developmental history that supports it, list the instruments used, and report objective attention testing, not just self-report checklists. It should address what else was ruled out. Then it needs the section most reports skip: a plain statement of functional limitations (for example, slowed reading speed under time pressure, difficulty sustaining attention through a 75-minute exam) and the accommodations that follow logically from each. Disability coordinators are not clinicians. Their job is to match a documented limitation to an accommodation, and a report that does the matching for them gets approved faster.

The accommodations that actually get granted

Extended time on exams, usually time and a half. A reduced-distraction testing room. Permission to record lectures or access to lecture notes. Priority registration, so a student can build a schedule that avoids a 4 p.m. three-hour block. Occasionally a reduced course load that still counts as full-time for financial aid. Accommodations that change the essential requirements of a course, like waiving a lab or a language requirement, are much harder to get and usually require a separate process.

Standardized tests are a different bar

The LSAT, MCAT, GRE, and licensing boards run their own accommodation processes and are stricter than any college. They typically want a comprehensive evaluation, often with cognitive and achievement testing alongside the ADHD battery, and evidence of a history of accommodations. If graduate school is on the horizon, say so at the evaluation so the report can be built to that standard rather than redone in two years.

How I do this

The evaluation is two sessions. The first is a long clinical interview covering childhood, school history, sleep, mood, and current functioning, and I ask for a parent or another observer to complete rating scales because a student’s own report of their childhood is often thin. Between sessions I administer the TOVA, an objective measure of sustained attention and impulsivity. The second session is feedback, and the report follows. The report is written with the disability office in mind: diagnosis, method, functional limitations, recommended accommodations, and a letter on request.

Timing. Do not wait for midterms. Disability offices need time to process a request, and accommodations are rarely retroactive; a failed exam in week six is a failed exam. Local testing centers often book months out. If you are reading this in September, an evaluation this month gets you accommodations in place for finals.

A word to parents

You can help gather history and you can pay the bill, but the disability office will deal with your student, not you, because your student is now the adult on the account. Coach them to make the appointment and send the email. Learning to ask for what they need is part of the skill set that gets them through.

Cost and insurance

Comprehensive testing at my Byron Center location is priced as a flat self-pay fee, and I am in network with several plans; details are on the testing page. Ask your insurer whether psychological testing is covered, whether it needs a referral, and whether I am in network for your specific plan. If you are out of network I can provide a superbill for reimbursement.