BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 1369 (Frazier) - Special education: dyslexia.
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|Version: May 4, 2015 |Policy Vote: ED. 9 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: August 17, 2015 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: This bill requires the State Board of Education to
include "phonological processing" in the description of basic
psychological processes in the state's regulations. The
Superintendent of Public Instruction is required to develop
program guidelines for dyslexia, post them on the California
Department of Education's (CDE) website, and provide technical
assistance regarding their use.
Fiscal
Impact:
According to the CDE, one-time costs of about $103,000 and
three partial staff to modify regulations and develop and
disseminate program guidelines on dyslexia. Costs also
include creating webinars to provide technical assistance, and
travel costs associated with stakeholder meetings. (General
Fund)
After year one, ongoing costs of about $130,000 for one
position and a partial position to provide technical
assistance to the field, update and disseminate information,
AB 1369 (Frazier) Page 1 of
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and respond to complaints of non-compliance with the new
guidelines. (General Fund)
Significant local cost pressures to implement the guidelines
developed by the CDE.
Background: Existing law:
1)Defines a specific learning disability as a disorder in one or
more of the basic psychological processes involved in
understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which
may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think,
speak, read, write, spell, or perform mathematical
calculations.
(United States Code, Title 20, § 1401, and Education Code §
56337)
2)Includes in the definition of a specific learning disability
conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury,
minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental
aphasia. Existing regulations specify that the basic
psychological processes include attention, visual processing,
auditory processing, sensory-motor skills, cognitive abilities
(including association), conceptualization and expression.
(California Code of Regulations, Title 5, § 3030)
3)Provides that a student who is assessed as being dyslexic and
meets eligibility criteria for the category of specific
learning disabilities is entitled to special education and
related services. (EC § 56337.5)
4)Provides that if a student who exhibits the characteristics of
dyslexia or another related reading dysfunction is not found
to be eligible for special education and related services, the
student's instructional program is to be provided in the
regular education program. (EC § 56337.5)
5)Encourages institutions of higher education to provide, in
teacher training programs, increased emphasis on the
AB 1369 (Frazier) Page 2 of
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recognition of, and teaching strategies for, specific learning
disabilities, including dyslexia and related disorders. (EC §
44227.7)
6)Encourages the inclusion of a component on the recognition of,
and teaching strategies for, specific learning disabilities,
including dyslexia and related disorders, in local in-service
training programs for regular education teachers and special
education teachers in local educational agencies. (EC §
56245)
According to the American Speech-Language Hearing Association, a
phonological process disorder involves patterns of sound errors,
such as substituting "k" sounds for "g" sounds. According to
the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke,
dyslexia is a brain-based type of learning disability that
specifically impairs a person's ability to read. Common
characteristics among people with dyslexia are difficulty with
phonological processing (the manipulation of sounds), spelling,
and/or rapid visual-verbal responding.
Proposed Law:
This bill requires the State Board of Education to include
"phonological processing" in the description of basic
psychological processes in the state's regulations.
This bill also requires the Superintendent to, before the
beginning of the 2017-18 academic year, develop program
guidelines for dyslexia to be used to: (1) assist regular and
special education teachers, and parents to identify and assess
students with dyslexia, and (2) plan, provide, evaluate, and
improve educational services to students with dyslexia.
Educational services are specifically defined as "an
evidence-based, multisensory, direct, explicit, structured, and
sequential approach to instructing pupils who have dyslexia."
In developing the program guidelines the Superintendent must
consult with a number of individuals and professionals involved
in the identification and education of students with dyslexia.
AB 1369 (Frazier) Page 3 of
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The Superintendent is required to post the guidelines on the
CDE's website and to provide technical assistance regarding
their use and implementation.
Staff
Comments:7) Current law provides that a student who is assessed as being
dyslexic, as specified, is entitled to special education and
related services under the specific learning disability
category. 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, spoken
or written. State regulations specify that the basic
psychological processes include attention, visual processing,
auditory processing, sensory-motor skills, cognitive abilities,
conceptualization and expression. The description of
psychological processes and the inclusion of phonological
processes appear to be an expansion to beyond federal law. To
the extent expanding the definition of psychological processes
results in required expansion of services beyond federal law,
costs for implementing these services could be determined to be
a reimbursable state mandate.
This bill also requires the CDE to develop program guidelines
for dyslexia to be used to assist teachers and other individuals
to identify and assess students with dyslexia and to plan,
provide, evaluate, and improve educational services to students
with dyslexia. This bill provides a specific definition for
educational services. These program guidelines would only be
advisory to local educational agencies and would therefore not
be eligible for reimbursement under state mandate law but would
create cost pressures to implement them.
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