Miller, L. A., Lewandowski, L. J., & Antshel, K. M. (2015). Effects of extended time for college students with and without ADHD . Journal of Attention Disorders , 19 (8), 678–686. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054713483308

[First published online (4/16/13)]

Extended-time accommodations conditions included 150% time (also called time-and-one-half) and 200% time (or twice the amount of standard allotted time).

Participants were 38 university students who self-reported diagnoses of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and received accommodations according to the university's Office of Disability Studies and/or as concluded by students completing the Barkley Adult ADHD Rating Scale, 4th edition (BAARS-IV). These students with ADHD were matched with students without disabilities and who did not receive accommodations at this private university in the Northeast (U.S.); these students without disabilities also met average achievement levels and were native English readers and speakers, had no learning or psychiatric disabilities, and did not meet criteria for ADHD according to the BAARS-IV. Participants' age, sex, race/ethnicity, and year in postsecondary education were also reported.

Participants completed the reading comprehension subtest of the Nelson-Denny Reading Test (NDRT) Forms G & H. Participant groups' individual scores were compared among the standard-time and two extended-time conditions, and compared with their matched-pair partner.

Participants in both groups were comparable with one another in terms of their numbers of items they attempted and completed in standard, 150% time and 200% time conditions; they also had similar numbers of correct answers as one another in each of the time conditions. Comparing students with ADHD with extended-time accommodations against students without disabilities with standard administration time, students with ADHD attempted and completed significantly more items than students without disabilities; the same comparison also yielded that students with ADHD (with extended-time) scored significantly higher than students without disabilities (with standard-time) in reading comprehension. Comparisons between each student's scores across the three conditions for each group indicated that students with ADHD had similar improvements in scores as students without disabilities. In other words, students with disabilities did not differentially benefit under extended-time conditions to a greater degree than students without disabilities. Limitations of the study were reported, and future research directions were suggested.