Psychologist publishes framework for twice-exceptional accommodation evaluations

Dr. Alan S. Jacobson has published the CLEAR Framework to standardize how psychologists document functional impairments for testing and educational accommodations, with a focus on twice-exceptional learners. The framework is meant to help schools, licensing boards and testing agencies connect diagnoses to the specific limitations they are legally required to accommodate.

Why it matters: - Twice-exceptional learners can be missed because high verbal or reasoning ability can hide a learning disability, attention disorder or processing difference. - High-stakes testing agencies often require stronger documentation than schools for accommodations on exams such as the LSAT, MCAT, GRE, GMAT and bar exam. - A more standardized evaluation framework could make accommodation requests clearer and more defensible for students and professionals.

What happened: - Dr. Alan S. Jacobson, Psy.D., MBA, a licensed clinical psychologist and member of Mensa International's Gifted Youth Committee, published a five-part framework for documenting functional impairments tied to accommodation requests. - The framework is called CLEAR: Clinical Interview & History, Legal Standard Mapping, Evidence-Based Testing, Assessment of Collateral Records, and Report: Functional Linkage & Recommendation. - The framework is published online. - The release comes as law schools, medical schools and licensing boards move through their fall testing cycles.

The details: - CLEAR is designed to connect a diagnosis to the specific functional limitation that a testing agency, school or employer is legally required to accommodate. - Twice-exceptional individuals are both gifted and disabled, which can lead to under-identification. - Jacobson's work with Mensa International's Gifted Youth Committee has kept him close to the identification problem. - Precision Psychological Assessments, Jacobson's testing and evaluation practice, uses the CLEAR Framework for exam-accommodation work and twice-exceptional testing. - The practice handles accommodations for the GRE, GMAT, bar exam and LSAT. - The practice also tests children, college students and adults for twice-exceptionality. - Jacobson has PSYPACT authority to practice telepsychology across 44 states. - That authority lets Jacobson conduct evaluations for candidates and students beyond his offices in Westwood, Massachusetts, New York City and San Diego, California.

Between the lines: - The framework appears aimed at closing a documentation gap between clinical diagnosis and legal accommodation standards. - The focus on function, not just diagnosis, reflects the reality that testing agencies often want evidence of how a condition affects performance. - For 2e learners, that distinction can determine whether strong abilities are recognized alongside a disability.

What's next: - Precision Psychological Assessments is likely to keep applying CLEAR in accommodations evaluations and 2e assessments. - The framework's public release may make it easier for other psychologists to adopt a similar documentation structure. - Jacobson and his practice continue to offer evaluations across multiple testing categories, including LSAT, MCAT, GRE, GMAT, bar exam and AP exams.

The bottom line: - CLEAR is a bid to make accommodation evaluations more consistent, more functionally grounded and more useful for twice-exceptional students and professionals.