Straight answers
How do I request SAT testing accommodations?
Accommodations like extended time are requested through your school's SSD (Services for Students with Disabilities) coordinator, not by registering differently. Review can take up to roughly seven weeks, so the request needs to start months before the test date you're aiming at — and once approved, accommodations carry forward to future College Board tests.
The fastest path is almost always through the school. A counselor or SSD coordinator can submit the request online and usually already holds the documentation — an IEP, a 504 plan, or evaluation records — which means far less paperwork for the family than filing independently.
Timing is the part that goes wrong most often. Requests are reviewed on a published deadline schedule, approval can take up to about seven weeks, and an approval that lands too close to test day may not be in place in time for that administration. If a student is aiming at a fall test, the conversation should be happening in the spring before.
The most common accommodation is extended time, but the range is wider than most families realize: extra or extended breaks, small-group or separate-room testing, a reader or scribe, assistive technology, and permission for food, drink, or medication at the desk. It's worth asking what fits the student rather than assuming extended time is the only option.
Related but separate: students who are English learners may be eligible for EL supports at in-school (school day) administrations — translated test directions, an approved word-to-word bilingual glossary, and in some cases extended time. Those are arranged through the school as well, and they aren't the same thing as disability accommodations.