Accommodations
Accommodations are adjustments to how a student demonstrates their knowledge — they change the format or conditions of assessment without changing what is being assessed. They are not cheating and they are not special advantages. When calibrated correctly, accommodations level the playing field by removing barriers that are irrelevant to what is being measured. Brain imaging research provides direct evidence for why the most common accommodation — extended time — is necessary, not discretionary.
Extended Time: The Most Critical Accommodation
Extended time is the single most important accommodation for dyslexic students, and it is supported by stronger evidence than any other accommodation. The reason lies in the brain science of dyslexia.
As described in the brain science section, dyslexic readers underactivate the fast, automatic occipito-temporal word recognition system and over-rely on the slower, more effortful frontal and parietal reading pathways. This means that even a fully compensated dyslexic reader who can produce accurate reading is doing so through a more effortful, more time-consuming neural pathway than a typical reader. Under standard time conditions, this slower processing speed directly limits performance: the student runs out of time before running out of knowledge.
Neuroimaging studies at Yale have shown that even adult dyslexic readers who score within the normal range on untimed reading tests show the characteristic underactivation of posterior reading systems. Under timed conditions, these same individuals perform significantly below their actual knowledge level. Extended time does not give them an advantage over non-dyslexic students; it removes a disadvantage that is neurologically determined.
Standard extended time accommodations are 1.5x (50% more time) or 2x (double time) the standard allotment. Research suggests that dyslexic readers generally need at least 1.5x and many benefit from 2x, particularly on reading-heavy or writing-heavy examinations.
Other Key Accommodations
Access to digitized or audio texts: For reading-heavy coursework, access to audio versions of texts — through Learning Ally, Bookshare, or the publisher’s accessible digital format — allows the student to absorb content at full speed without the bottleneck of slow decoding. This accommodation is particularly important for college students facing high-volume academic reading.
Foreign language waivers: Many high schools and colleges require students to complete foreign language coursework. For dyslexic students, language learning involves exactly the phonological processing skills that are weakest — learning the sound system and written-sound correspondences of a new language. Many institutions allow students with documented dyslexia to substitute a different course requirement (often computer science, linguistics, or ASL) in place of the foreign language requirement.
Quiet testing rooms / reduced distraction environments: Students who are working harder to decode and who have anxiety associated with reading benefit from testing environments without ambient noise or visual distraction.
Note-taking assistance: In courses where the student cannot listen and write simultaneously (because writing requires more phonological processing capacity than it does for typical students), note-taking support — a classmate’s notes, lecture recordings, or professional note-taker — preserves the student’s ability to attend fully to the spoken content.
Oral examinations as an alternative to written exams: In some contexts, particularly where oral demonstration of knowledge is feasible, this accommodation allows the student’s actual knowledge to be assessed without the reading and writing bottleneck.
Reduced assignment load or alternative formats for written work: Where the goal of an assignment is to demonstrate understanding — not to practice writing — allowing audio or video responses, oral presentations, or outline formats provides a fairer assessment of what the student actually knows.
The SQ3R Reading Strategy
Beyond formal accommodations, dyslexic students benefit from strategic approaches to academic reading. SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review) is a structured active reading technique that improves comprehension and retention for dense academic texts:
- Survey: Skim the chapter before reading — headings, figures, summaries — to build a mental framework
- Question: Convert each heading into a question to focus the reading
- Read: Read each section to answer the question
- Recite: After each section, state the answer in your own words without looking
- Review: At the end, review all questions and answers; identify and re-read gaps
This strategy counteracts the passive, word-by-word reading that dyslexic students often do — moving eyes across words without retaining meaning — and replaces it with purposeful, comprehension-oriented engagement with text.
Based on “Overcoming Dyslexia” by Sally Shaywitz, M.D. (2020 edition)