A Guide to Dyslexia Accommodations

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Whether you are new to the world of dyslexia or not, one common denominator for everyone under the umbrella is the need to consider dyslexia accommodations. Are you a parent trying to understand what accommodation options are available to your child? Alternatively, are you a parent who is needing to reevaluate your child’s current accommodations to ensure they are evolving as your child’s reading skills evolve?

Parents beginning their journey may not know where to start. If you are feeling overwhelmed, it would be beneficial to get a basic understanding of what dyslexia is to more fully appreciate the benefit that accommodations provide. The article Understanding Dyslexia in 4 Points may be a good place to start.

Regardless of which path you are on, below you will find some helpful accommodations to consider as you think about how to best support your learner.

What is an Accommodation?

An accommodation is an adjustment made to the way students access information but does not change the content of the material or the standard of achievement.

Accommodations are given to students with learning differences to level the playing field. The goal of an accommodation is to give all students access to the same information by removing barriers they face due to learning disabilities.

Accommodations in Action

Imagine two children are at a zoo on a field trip. Their teacher tasks them with finding the hippos and writing a detailed description of what they look like. The children make their way to the hippos but find that the animal is behind a tall, solid fence. The two children are the same age but of very different heights. One child is tall enough to see over the fence with no problem but the other child is shorter and struggling to see. The teacher observes this and brings the struggling student a stepping stool. With that accommodation, the shorter student is able to see over the fence and complete the assignment. 

While height differences are not learning disabilities, the scenario above provides a great example of how accommodations provide equal access to curriculum. The stepping stool was an adjustment that allowed her shorter student to gain access to the same information that the rest of the class had access to. Had the stepping stool not been provided, the student struggling to see would not have been able to complete the assignment. Additionally, without the accommodation, the teacher would not have received an accurate representation of the child’s skill set.

If you bring this example into a classroom setting and apply it to children with disabilities, you can see how significant accommodations can be.

Dyslexia Accommodations to Consider

With a dyslexia diagnosis, your child is eligible to receive accommodations in order to have access to the same curriculum as their peers. To reiterate, accommodations help remove the barriers that exist for children with learning disabilities. Below are examples of accommodations that may help your child thrive.

  • Assistive Technology (AT): AT is any piece of equipment or software program that improves learning for individuals with learning disabilities. If you are not familiar with assistive technology, this video provides a breakdown of what it is and what to expect. This accommodation can include technology such as audiobooks that provide text to speech or dictation assistance that provides speech to text. Follow this link to learn more about free AT applications.
  • Chunking assignments: This accommodation can be beneficial for students who struggle to stay focused and organized. It allows the teacher to break up an assignment or reading text into smaller parts so that it may be more manageable. This accommodation is best used when there is checking for understanding after each benchmark.
  • Extra Time: This accommodation would allow your child extra time to complete assignments and exams. Some assignments might require an extra hour whereas others might require an extra day.
  • Individual or small group testing: Testing in a smaller group setting can be beneficial for children who are easily distracted.  More people in the room can provide more reasons to lose focus.  
  • Oral Administration: This accommodation allows struggling readers to have test questions and answer choices read to them. These questions should be read at the pace that your child needs so it is important that your child practice raising their hand and asking for the next question to be read when needed.
  • Preferential Seating: Where does your child learn best? Implementing this accommodation would allow your child to have minimized distractions by sitting closer to the teacher or wherever is deemed a better fit. The goal of this accommodations is to place your child somewhere in the class where they can focus.
  • Providing Class Notes: Is your child dysgraphic? Does your child spend so much time trying to keep up with the class notes that they are not absorbing the content? Adding this accommodation would allow the teacher or a peer to share a copy of class notes with your student so they may focus on the lesson. Another option would be to give a copy of class notes with some words missing so that your child is filling in certain words.
  • Relaying information on your child’s language level: Dyslexia is a language disorder and your child’s vocabulary may suffer as a secondary consequence. It is important for educators to meet your child where they are. This could be reinforced by the repetition of instruction coupled with visual cues. It could also be checking for understanding at the end of a lesson. If the understanding is not there, the teacher could rephrase the expectations using different language that your child understands.
  • Supplemental Aids: These are blank graphic organizers that are customized to your child’s needs. Below are some examples of what supplemental aids look like.
    • Graph paper to keep math problems organized
    • Visual representations of math concepts such as clocks and shapes
    • Venn diagram
    • Essay graphic organizer
  • Multiplication Chart: This accommodation would technically fall under supplemental aids but I have found multiplication facts to be such a concern for parents that I felt it deserved its own bullet. Ideally, your child would be given a blank multiplication chart and learn how to fill it in by skip counting. It is helpful for children who struggle with rote memory and goes a step further than simply giving your child a completed multiplication chart. This process would reinforce the concept of what multiplication is and they would be able to access a blank multiplication chart on any standardized testing.
  • Timer to keep track of time: This would be a great accommodation if your child could use support in time management to stay on track. This could look like a timer on their desk or having a teacher provide reminders on the time remaining. Get creative with what works best for your learner!
Set Your Child Up For Success

The key to success for all accommodations is ensuring that your child knows how to use them. This requires practice! Accommodations will do no good if your child has access to them but has never practiced implementing them.

Your child should understand the function each accommodation provides and be practicing how to use them throughout the school year. Additionally, students should understand expectations for their accommodations. For instance, if your child has access to a timer at their desk, the expectation is that it sits at the corner of their desk and should not be played with.

Be sure to check in with your child and their team of teachers that supports them on the efficacy of each accommodation. Is there progress being made? You can ask questions like when and how often the accommodations are being implemented. Asking these questions will better equip you for the next time you need to change or add an accommodation.

The support that accommodations provide can make the world of a difference to your learner. If you have any questions about how to implement certain accommodations or would like further clarification, please reach out via the connect page.