ADHD symptoms and benefit from extended time testing accommodations

To investigate the relationship between ADHD symptoms, executive functioning problems, and benefit from extended time testing accommodations.

College students completed a battery of measures assessing processing speed and reading fluency, reading comprehension (under two different time limits), symptoms of ADHD, executive functioning deficits, and perceptions of need for extended time.

Students reporting more symptoms of ADHD and executive functioning deficits actually benefited less from extended time, and students' perceptions of their timing needs did not predict benefit.

Students with more ADHD symptoms are less likely to use extended time effectively, possibly because of their associated executive functioning problems. These results suggest there may be little justification for examining a student's ADHD symptoms when making extended time accommodation decisions.