(1) 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. Existing law defines a “specific learning disability” as a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, and includes in that definition dyslexia and other specified conditions.

This bill would require 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 would require 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.

(2) Existing regulations adopted by the State Board of Education include specific basic psychological processes in the definition of “specific learning disability.”

This bill would require the state board to include “phonological processing” in that description of basic psychological processes.