California

Dyslexia Legislation

Has Legislation?Yes

California Assembly Bill 1369 and Chapter 647

Assembly Bill 1369 requires "the Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop, and to complete in time for use no later than the beginning of the 2017-18 academic year, program guidelines for dyslexia to be used to assist regular education teachers, special education teachers, and parents to identify and assess pupils with dyslexia, and to plan, provide, evaluate, and improve educational services, as defined, to pupils with dyslexia." The bill also requires "the Superintendent to disseminate the program guidelines through the State Department of Education's Internet Web site and to provide technical assistance regarding their use and implementation to specified persons. Existing regulations adopted by the State Board of Education include specific basic psychological processes in the definition of 'specific learning disability.'" This bill requires "the state board to include 'phonological processing' in that description of basic psychological processes."

Screening

Required?No

AB 1369 states, "Existing law requires all children with disabilities residing in the state, regardless of the severity of their disabilities, and who are in need of special education and related services, to be identified, located, and assessed. Existing law provides that a pupil who is assessed as being dyslexic and meets certain eligibility criteria for the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act category of specific learning disabilities is entitled to special education and related services." AB 1369 charges the Superintendent with developing guidelines that "assess pupils with dyslexia, and to plan, provide, evaluate, and improve educational services to pupils with dyslexia. For purposes of this section, 'educational services' means an evidence-based, multisensory, direct, explicit, structured, and sequential approach to instructing pupils who have dyslexia."