Classroom Accommodations, Explained: A Parent's Guide

When a child struggles in school, a teacher may offer classroom accommodations to help level the playing field. As a parent, you can also request these accommodations yourself if you believe they’re necessary. If your child has never had one before, it’s normal to be unsure what to expect.

What is an accommodation?

Accommodations are changes that remove barriers to learning so every student has a real chance to succeed. They change how a child learns, not what they learn: things like how a teacher presents information, how a student is tested, and how they practice a newly learned skill. Depending on where you live, your child can get accommodations through their teacher, an IEP (US and Canada), a 504 plan (US), or an IPRC (Canada).

Are accommodations fair?

Yes, absolutely. Treating every student exactly the same isn’t actually fair to the students who need extra support or who learn differently. Accommodations give each student what they individually need to have an equal opportunity to succeed: not an advantage, an equal shot.

The four main types of accommodations

Instructional. These change how information is presented to the student. A common method is “chunking”: breaking a lengthy assignment down into shorter, more manageable tasks. Some students are also helped by being allowed to copy another student’s notes.

Assessment. These change how a child completes assignments or tests: speech-to-text software, extra time, having a test read aloud, or having a scribe record their answers.

Environmental. These change where a student is learning, for example adjusting a seating arrangement to reduce distractions, or moving a child closer to the teacher or next to a positive peer model.

Assistive or adaptive technology. This uses technology to help a student access information and demonstrate their knowledge: voice-to-text software, audiobooks, or accepting typed or verbal answers instead of handwritten ones.

Accommodations help, but they aren’t the fix

Academic accommodations can make the difference between success and failure for a student who struggles with reading. They matter, but they don’t correct the underlying problem. They give a student the opportunity to succeed in spite of it. Closing the actual reading gap takes targeted, evidence-based instruction.

That’s the piece Online Reading Tutor’s Orton-Gillingham based lessons are built for, grounded in neuroscience and reading research on how the brain actually processes text. Take our free 10-minute screener to see where your child’s reading stands today.