Harrison, A. G., Pollock, B., & Holmes, A. (2022). Provision of extended assessment time in post-secondary settings: A review of the literature and proposed guidelines for practice . Psychological Injury and Law , 15 (3), 295–306. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12207-022-09451-3

Extended time for examinations, specifically for postsecondary students with non-visible disabilities, were investigated throughout academic research literature.

The literature review was conducted to examine best practice guidelines from existing research on the extended time accommodation. The literature review included studies with postsecondary students with non-visible or non-apparent disabilities, including specific learning disabilities (LD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), mental health, and other co-morbid diagnoses; the relevant issue of standard decision-making models surrounding the appropriateness of accommodations was discussed. The reviewed studies included those published in 1997–2021, and comprised some conducted in the U.S. context and some conducted in various other countries; all relevant publications appeared to be written in English.

This literature review aimed to offer guidelines to help determine when extended time is necessary, in what circumstances the accommodation might be required, and the amount of extra time that is appropriate. The authors reported findings on when, what, and how extra time was provided to postsecondary students with common non-visible disabilities.

The authors concluded that the body of research on the needs of postsecondary students with non-visible disabilities failed to do the following: (a) support the need, generally, for more than 25% extra time on assessments for students with either learning disabilities or with co-morbid conditions; (b) support the need for additional time on assessments for students with ADHD or autism; and (c) demonstrate benefits that addressed challenges such as slower reading speed, slower processing speed, or limited attention capacity for individuals with ASD or mental health conditions (i.e. anxiety, depression).