The best 504 accommodations for students with dyslexia are the ones that remove specific barriers without lowering academic expectations. Effective accommodations provide equal access to learning while students receive evidence-based reading intervention. They do not teach reading or replace structured literacy instruction, but they can make a meaningful difference in a student’s ability to demonstrate what they know.
When parents first learn that their child qualifies for a 504 Plan, one of the first questions they ask is, “What accommodations should I request?”
A quick internet search often produces long lists of 504 accommodations containing dozens of options. While these lists can be helpful, they can also feel overwhelming. Some even suggest requesting every accommodation available in hopes that something will work.
As a Certified Academic Language Therapist who has worked with hundreds of students with dyslexia, I believe there is a better approach.
Before discussing specific accommodations, I want to be transparent about my perspective.
I believe many students with dyslexia qualify for services through an Individualized Education Program (IEP). Dyslexia falls under the federal disability category of Specific Learning Disability, and many students need specialized reading instruction, not simply classroom accommodations. Unfortunately, not every school identifies students under an IEP, and many families find themselves navigating support through a 504 Plan instead.
The encouraging news is that many of the accommodations discussed in this article can be included in either a 504 Plan or an IEP. Whether your child receives support under Section 504 or the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the goal remains the same: remove barriers created by dyslexia while maintaining access to rigorous academic instruction.
It is equally important to understand what accommodations are not.
Accommodations do not teach a child to read. They do not replace evidence-based structured literacy intervention. Instead, they provide access to learning while students build stronger reading and writing skills through appropriate instruction.
Recommended reading: Dyslexia Accommodations: The Complete Guide for Parents and Teachers
504 accommodations are supports that help students with disabilities access the same educational opportunities as their peers. They do not change what a student is expected to learn. Instead, they change how the student accesses instruction, completes assignments, or demonstrates knowledge.
If you’ve been wondering, “What are 504 accommodations?” the answer is actually quite simple.
A student with dyslexia is expected to learn the same academic content as classmates. The difference is that reading, spelling, writing, and executive functioning challenges may create barriers that make learning more difficult. Accommodations remove those barriers without lowering expectations.
Think of accommodations as providing access rather than advantage.
For example, allowing a student to use text-to-speech software does not make the science curriculum easier. It simply allows the student to access the same science content without decoding becoming the obstacle.
The goal is always equal opportunity, not reduced expectations.
There is no single list of 504 accommodations that works for every student with dyslexia. The most effective accommodations are individualized and selected based on a student’s specific learning profile, not copied from a generic checklist.
Parents often ask me for the “best” 504 accommodations for dyslexia.
The honest answer is that no universal list exists.
One of the biggest mistakes I see during 504 meetings is what I call the “kitchen sink” approach. Everyone around the table starts suggesting accommodations, and before long the student has twenty-five or thirty different supports written into the plan.
While these recommendations almost always come from good intentions, they often create practical problems.
Teachers are responsible for supporting many students every day. When a plan contains an overwhelming number of accommodations, some inevitably receive less attention because they are unnecessary, difficult to implement consistently, or simply do not address that student’s actual challenges.
More accommodations do not automatically create better support.
In fact, the strongest 504 plans are often the most intentional. Every accommodation should address a specific barrier created by dyslexia.
The best accommodation is one that removes a clearly identified barrier. Every support included in a 504 Plan should have a specific purpose based on the student’s individual strengths and challenges.
Whenever parents ask me whether they should request a particular accommodation, I encourage them to ask one simple question:
What barrier created by dyslexia is this accommodation removing?
If there is no clear answer, it probably does not belong in the plan.
For example, if a student struggles to decode grade-level text but has excellent listening comprehension, text-to-speech may remove the reading barrier and allow the student to demonstrate their true understanding.
If another student struggles primarily with spelling but reads fluently, that same accommodation may offer very little benefit.
Accommodations should always solve a specific problem rather than simply make school easier.
Yes. A student’s 504 accommodations should be reviewed regularly and updated as academic demands change and new skills develop. Supports that are appropriate in elementary school may no longer be necessary in middle or high school, while older students often need accommodations that younger children do not.
Parents sometimes assume that once a 504 Plan is written, it stays the same until graduation.
In reality, a good accommodation plan is a living document.
What supports a second grader may not be necessary for an eighth grader. Likewise, high school students often need accommodations related to note-taking, longer reading assignments, standardized testing, self-advocacy, and increasingly independent learning.
As students become stronger readers through structured literacy intervention, some accommodations may naturally fade away. Others may become even more important as coursework grows more demanding. The goal is always to match accommodations to the student’s current needs rather than relying on a checklist created years earlier.
Accommodations should also change as your child moves through school. We cover this in detail in 504 accommodations by age, including what to ask for in elementary, middle, and high school.
Please note: For the purpose of this blog, I will name specific programs associated with general categories of assistive technology; please recognize that many schools will not allow a specific named support to be written into the 504 or IEP plan, but instead only the general category.
If I could recommend one technology accommodation for many students with dyslexia, it would be Read&Write for Google Chrome by Texthelp.Unlike programs that perform only one function, Read&Write combines text-to-speech, speech-to-text, word prediction, picture dictionaries, vocabulary support, digital highlighting, study tools, and other literacy supports into a single platform.
Because it addresses multiple barriers commonly experienced by students with dyslexia, it can often replace several separate technology accommodations while providing students with a single, consistent tool they can learn to use independently.
Students who have strong listening comprehension but continue to struggle with decoding often benefit significantly from Read&Write because it allows them to focus on understanding content rather than spending all of their mental energy identifying individual words.
Students with dyslexia should not have to wait until they become fluent readers to learn grade-level science, history, literature, and other academic content.
Learning Ally provides professionally narrated human audiobooks specifically designed for students with print disabilities. Bookshare offers digital books that can be read aloud with high-quality text-to-speech, allowing students to adjust font size, spacing, colors, and reading speed.
Both resources provide access to grade-level curriculum while students continue receiving evidence-based structured literacy instruction that strengthens their independent reading skills.
These accommodations are especially valuable for students whose listening comprehension is significantly stronger than their current reading level.
If Read&Write is unavailable through your school district, Microsoft Immersive Reader is another excellent option.
Built into many Microsoft products already used in schools, Immersive Reader reads digital text aloud while allowing students to adjust spacing, line focus, font, colors, and other visual settings that improve readability.
Many students report feeling less overwhelmed when large amounts of text are presented in smaller, more manageable sections.
Writing is often one of the most frustrating academic tasks for students with dyslexia.
Many children have wonderful ideas but struggle to translate those ideas into written language because spelling, handwriting, keyboarding, and sentence construction require so much mental effort.
Speech-to-text technology allows students to dictate their thoughts while reducing those barriers.
Google Voice Typing works well within Google Docs and is available free of charge. Microsoft Dictate integrates seamlessly into Microsoft Word for schools using Microsoft products. Dragon Professional offers highly advanced speech recognition and is particularly beneficial for older students completing lengthy writing assignments or students with coexisting dysgraphia.
The goal is not to replace writing instruction. It is to allow students to demonstrate what they know without written mechanics becoming the primary obstacle.
Graphic organizers help students organize their thinking before beginning a writing assignment.
Rather than staring at a blank page wondering where to begin, students can visually map their ideas before writing complete sentences.
Many schools already have access to digital graphic organizers through Google Drawings, Lucidchart, Inspiration Maps, or Canva for Education.
These supports are particularly helpful for students who struggle with planning, organization, and written expression.
Whenever appropriate, students should have opportunities to demonstrate what they know in ways that are not limited by reading or spelling.
Depending on the learning objective, a teacher may allow a student to provide an oral presentation, record a video response, create a slideshow, or participate in an individual conference instead of completing a lengthy written assignment.
This accommodation does not lower academic expectations. Instead, it allows teachers to measure students’ understanding of the content without letting dyslexia become the primary barrier.
When the purpose of an assignment is to measure understanding of science, history, or another content area, excessive grading penalties for spelling errors may prevent teachers from accurately evaluating what the student actually knows.
This does not mean spelling instruction becomes less important. Students with dyslexia absolutely need explicit spelling instruction.
It simply means spelling and content knowledge should not always be graded as though they measure the same skill.
Many classroom activities require students to copy information from the board, worksheets, or presentation slides. While this may seem like a simple task, it requires visual tracking, attention, working memory, spelling, handwriting, and organization all at the same time.
For students with dyslexia, those combined demands can quickly become overwhelming.
Reducing unnecessary copying may include providing guided notes, printed teacher slides, digital copies of classroom materials, or teacher-created notes. These supports allow students to devote their mental energy to understanding the lesson rather than reproducing information that could easily be provided in another format.
Reducing copying does not lower expectations. It removes an unnecessary barrier so students can focus on learning.
Children with dyslexia sometimes miss important information because they are still decoding written directions while their classmates have already started the assignment.
Reading directions aloud, checking for understanding, and allowing students to ask clarifying questions before beginning a task can significantly improve independence and reduce frustration.
This accommodation is especially helpful in elementary school but may continue to benefit older students depending on the complexity of classroom expectations.
One of the simplest accommodations can also be one of the most effective.
A brief teacher check-in at the beginning or end of class allows students to verify assignments, clarify directions, organize materials, and ask questions before leaving the classroom.
These conversations often prevent small misunderstandings from becoming much larger academic problems.
As students mature, these check-ins can gradually become student-initiated rather than teacher-directed, helping develop self-advocacy skills that will benefit them well beyond high school.
Large assignments can feel overwhelming for students with dyslexia, particularly when planning and executive functioning are also areas of difficulty.
Breaking projects into smaller sections with intermediate deadlines often improves both the quality of the work and the student’s confidence.
Rather than assigning an entire research paper at once, teachers might establish separate due dates for topic selection, research, outlining, first draft, revisions, and the final submission.
Students often feel more successful because each step feels achievable rather than overwhelming.
Extended time is one of the most common 504 plan accommodations, but it is also one of the most misunderstood.
Extended time should never be viewed as giving students an unfair advantage.
Students with dyslexia often expend considerable cognitive energy decoding words, reading directions, and composing written responses. Extended time allows teachers to evaluate what students know rather than how quickly they can read or write.
This accommodation is often appropriate for classroom assessments, essays, projects with written components, and standardized testing when allowable under testing guidelines.
Many students with dyslexia perform better when testing in a quieter environment.
A small-group setting reduces distractions while also allowing teachers to provide approved accommodations more consistently.
Students frequently report feeling less anxious because they are no longer comparing how quickly they are working with classmates around them.
Reducing anxiety allows many students to demonstrate their true knowledge more accurately. Discover how we test for dyslexia.
Calculator accommodations are sometimes misunderstood.
Students with dyslexia should not automatically receive access to a calculator simply because they have dyslexia.
However, when a mathematics assessment is intended to measure mathematical reasoning rather than reading ability, calculator use may be appropriate if reading demands interfere with the demonstration of mathematical understanding.
Like every other accommodation, access to a calculator should be based on an individual student’s needs rather than provided automatically.
Organization is often just as challenging as reading.
Many students benefit from digital planning tools that help them remember assignments, deadlines, and upcoming projects while gradually building independence.
Applications such as Google Calendar, Google Tasks, Microsoft To Do, and Todoist can send reminders and help students learn to manage their responsibilities independently. Many schools also use Google Classroom or Canvas calendars, which can automatically organize assignments and due dates.
These tools do far more than remind students about homework. They help students develop lifelong executive functioning habits that will continue benefiting them long after graduation.
Many students with dyslexia lose track of assignments not because they are careless but because holding multiple deadlines in working memory is genuinely difficult.
A printed or digital checklist that a student reviews at the end of each class or each day reduces that burden considerably. Some teachers initial the checklist during the elementary years, then gradually transfer responsibility to the student as independence grows.
This accommodation works best when the format stays consistent across teachers, so the student is learning one system rather than five.
One of the biggest misconceptions I see is the belief that more accommodations automatically create a better plan.
In reality, the strongest accommodation plans are individualized.
Every support should remove a specific barrier that dyslexia creates for that particular student.
If an accommodation is rarely used, no longer needed, or does not address a meaningful challenge, it may not belong in the plan.
Likewise, if your child develops a new area of need, their accommodation plan should evolve to address it.
Parents should expect accommodations to change over time. As students become stronger readers, develop greater independence, or encounter new academic expectations, their supports should be reviewed and revised accordingly.
The goal is not to have the longest 504 accommodations list.
The goal is to have the right accommodations.
Examples of 504 accommodations can provide an excellent starting point, but they should never become a checklist.
Every child with dyslexia has a unique learning profile.
One student may need extensive reading supports but very little assistance with writing. Another student may read accurately but struggle significantly with organization and executive functioning. A third may benefit greatly from speech-to-text technology while rarely needing extended testing time.
That is exactly why accommodations should always be individualized.
Whether your child receives support through a 504 Plan or an IEP, accommodations should be viewed as one piece of a much larger puzzle.
They provide access.
They level the playing field.
They remove barriers created by dyslexia.
What they do not do is teach a child to read.
The most effective accommodation plan is one that works hand in hand with evidence-based structured literacy intervention. While accommodations allow students to access learning today, high-quality intervention builds the reading, spelling, and writing skills they will rely on for the rest of their lives.
When those two pieces work together, students become more confident, more independent, and increasingly able to advocate for themselves as they move through school and beyond.
That is ultimately what every accommodation plan should strive to accomplish.
Does a dyslexia diagnosis automatically qualify my child for a 504 Plan?
Not automatically, though a documented dyslexia diagnosis usually meets the standard. Section 504 and the ADA protect students whose disability substantially limits a major life activity, and reading and learning both count, so a student with a formal dyslexia diagnosis is generally expected to qualify. The school still makes the final determination through its own eligibility process, but that process should be applied in line with the law rather than as an optional gate.
Can the school refuse an accommodation I request?
Yes. The 504 team decides collectively which accommodations are appropriate, and schools can decline a request they believe is unnecessary. Parents can ask for the reasoning in writing and request a meeting to revisit the decision.
Do 504 accommodations apply to standardized tests like the SAT?
Not automatically. College Board and ACT run separate approval processes and generally expect the accommodation to have been in place at school for some time. Apply well ahead of the test date.
What is the difference between a 504 Plan and an IEP?
A 504 Plan provides accommodations that remove barriers. An IEP provides specialized instruction, measurable goals, and progress monitoring alongside accommodations. Students who need reading intervention rather than access alone are usually better served by an IEP.
Can accommodations be added mid-year?
Yes. A 504 Plan can be amended at any point if a new need emerges. Parents can request a meeting in writing rather than waiting for the annual review.
U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. Protecting Students with Disabilities: Frequently Asked Questions About Section 504 and the Education of Children with Disabilities.
U.S. Department of Education. A Guide to the Individualized Education Program (IEP).
Office of Special Education Programs. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Resources.
CAST. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines 3.0.
National Center on Accessible Educational Materials for Learning. Accessible Educational Materials and Assistive Technology.
National Center for Learning Disabilities. Understanding 504 Plans and Accommodations.
International Dyslexia Association. Dyslexia in the Classroom: What Every Teacher Should Know.
Texas Education Agency. The Dyslexia Handbook: Procedures Concerning Dyslexia and Related Disorders.
Megan Pinchback is the founder of Dyslexia On Demand, a virtual dyslexia therapy company serving students worldwide. She is a Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT), dyslexia advocate, national speaker, podcaster, and social media educator dedicated to helping families better understand dyslexia, structured literacy, advocacy, and the social-emotional impact of learning differences. As the founder of Dyslexia On Demand, she has helped thousands of families navigate dyslexia through individualized intervention, parent education, and advocacy. Megan is also a mother of five and grandmother to one living outside of Austin, Texas.
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