The necessity of executive function support during writing tasks for students with dyslexia

Dyslexia, the most common learning disability (LD), is characterized by poor receptive and expressive written language skills (IDA, 2020). These persistent difficulties in reading and writing create barriers that impede learning and achievement, often well beyond formal schooling; a consequence which emphasizes the importance of developing effective interventions (S. E. Shaywitz et al., 1999). Though known as a reading disability, emerging evidence identifies neurobiological differences that affect other cognitive abilities. The most important of these is executive function (EF), a set of cognitive abilities involved in managing goal-based behaviors. EF is significant due to the integral role of EF in written language fluency (Altemeier et al., 2008), and because it is impaired in a high proportion of people with dyslexia (Barbosa et al., 2019; Germanò et al., 2010). This paper will argue that—as the neurological differences in dyslexia that result in written language difficulties may also lead to poor EF—the diagnosis of dyslexia should be sufficient for access to educational accommodations that support low EF.