03/05/2026
I was speaking with a teacher last week & something came up that I hear quite often. There’s a general perception that accommodations are mainly for students who are struggling academically or who have behaviours that are hard to manage.
But that’s only part of the picture.
I was there advocating for a student who doesn’t fit either of those categories. He’s in high school, has no behavioural concerns, and doesn’t disrupt the classroom. Academically, he’s doing… fine. Which is where things get interesting.
Because this is a student with cognitive ability in the 90th percentile.
Without support, he performs within the average range. With the right accommodations in place, his performance shifts much closer to his actual capacity. The difference isn’t effort. It’s his ability to access the task demands and demonstrate what he knows.
He has ADHD, Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), and dysgraphia, and each of these shapes how he engages with schoolwork. His ADHD isn’t outwardly disruptive, but it does affect sustained attention, particularly later in the day when medication is wearing off. By the final periods, his ability to take in and work with information drops.
His DCD affects efficiency. Tasks take longer, require more effort, and fatigue builds across the day.
And his dysgraphia creates a very clear bottleneck for written output. Getting ideas onto paper is slow and effortful, which limits what he can demonstrate under typical classroom conditions.
Individually, each of these is manageable. Together, they compound.
So on the surface, he looks like a student who is coping. In reality, his performance is being constrained in very predictable ways by the way tasks and environments are set up.
When those barriers are adjusted, his performance shifts. For example:
– using a laptop or speech-to-text to bypass handwriting demands
– adjusting written output requirements so he can demonstrate knowledge without excessive motor load
– building in rest breaks to manage fatigue
– completing assessments in a smaller, low-distraction setting
– prioritising more demanding tasks earlier in the day
– allowing additional time where processing speed or output is a factor
– reducing copying demands through provision of notes
– offering alternative ways to demonstrate knowledge where appropriate
None of these change what he knows. They change his ability to show what he knows.
This is where accommodations are often misunderstood. They’re not about advantage. They’re about access.
If support is only directed towards students who are failing or highly visible, a whole group of children are easily overlooked. The students who are coping, compliant, average-achieving, and largely under the radar.
A student can be achieving within the average range and still be significantly restricted in their participation.
Every child should have the opportunity to perform at a level that reflects their capacity, not the limitations of the environment around them.
