Article 2.5 - Eligibility Criteria for Special Education and Related Services on the Basis of Language and Speech Disorder or Specific Learning Disabilities

California Education Code — §§ 56333-56338

Sections (6)

Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 666, Sec. 99. (AB 486) Effective January 1, 2022.

A pupil shall be assessed as having a language or speech disorder that makes the pupil eligible for special education and related services when the pupil demonstrates difficulty understanding or using language to such an extent that it adversely affects the pupil’s educational performance and cannot be corrected without special education and related services. In order to be eligible for special education and related services, difficulty in understanding or using language shall be assessed by a speech-language pathologist who determines that such difficulty results from any of the following disorders:

(a)Speech sound disorder, characterized by deficits in the pupil’s production of speech sounds that significantly interferes with communication and

attracts adverse attention.

(b)Voice disorder, characterized by persistent, deficits in voice quality, pitch, intensity, or resonance. A medical examination shall be conducted, where appropriate.

(c)Fluency disorder, characterized by persistent deficits in the flow of verbal expression to such a degree that these difficulties adversely affect communication between the pupil and listener.

(d)Language disorder, characterized by inappropriate or inadequate acquisition, comprehension, or expression of language such that the pupil’s language performance level is found to be significantly below the language performance level of the pupil’s peers.

(e)Hearing impairment or deafness that contributes to or results in a language or speech disorder and

significantly affects educational performance.

§ 56334

Added by Stats. 2015, Ch. 647, Sec. 1. (AB 1369) Effective January 1, 2016.

The state board shall include “phonological processing” in the description of basic psychological processes in Section 3030 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations.

§ 56335

Added by Stats. 2015, Ch. 647, Sec. 2. (AB 1369) Effective January 1, 2016.

(a)The Superintendent shall develop 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 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.

(b)The program guidelines shall include, but shall not be limited to, characteristics typical of pupils with dyslexia and

strategies for their

remediation, as well as information to assist educators in distinguishing between characteristics of dyslexia and characteristics of normal growth and development.

(c)In developing program guidelines pursuant to subdivision (a), the Superintendent shall consult with teachers, school administrators, other educational professionals, medical professionals, parents, and other professionals

involved in the identification and education of pupils with dyslexia.

(d)The Superintendent shall complete the program guidelines in time for use no later than the beginning of the 2017–18 academic year.

(e)The Superintendent shall disseminate the program guidelines through the department’s Internet Web site and provide technical assistance regarding their use and implementation to parents, teachers, school administrators,

and faculty members in teacher training programs of institutions of higher education.

§ 56337

Amended by Stats. 2011, Ch. 347, Sec. 34. (SB 942) Effective January 1, 2012.

(a)A specific learning disability, as defined in Section 1401(30) of Title 20 of the United States Code, means 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. The term “specific learning disability” includes conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. That term does not include a learning problem that is primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of intellectual disabilities, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or

economic disadvantage.

(b)Notwithstanding any other law and pursuant to Section 1414(b)(6) of Title 20 of the United States Code, in determining whether a pupil has a specific learning disability as defined in subdivision (a), a local educational agency is not required to take into consideration whether a pupil has a severe discrepancy between achievement and intellectual ability in oral expression, listening comprehension, written expression, basic reading skill, reading comprehension, mathematical calculation, or mathematical reasoning.

(c)In determining whether a pupil has a specific learning disability, a local educational agency may use a process that determines if the pupil responds to scientific, research-based intervention as a part of the assessment procedures described in Section 1414(b)(2) and (3) of Title 20 of the United States Code and covered in Sections 300.307

to 300.311, inclusive, of Title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

§ 56337.5

Amended by Stats. 2016, Ch. 186, Sec. 54. (AB 2659) Effective January 1, 2017.

(a)A pupil who is assessed as being dyslexic and meets eligibility criteria specified in Section 56337 and paragraph (10) of subdivision (b) of Section 3030 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations for the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1400 et seq.) category of specific learning disabilities is entitled to special education and related services.

(b)If a pupil who exhibits the characteristics of dyslexia or another related reading dysfunction is not found to be eligible for special education and related services pursuant to subdivision (a), the pupil’s instructional program shall be provided in the regular education program.

(c)It is the intent of the Legislature that the program guidelines developed pursuant to Section 2 of Chapter 1501 of the Statutes of 1990, for specific learning disabilities, including dyslexia and other related disorders, be available for use by teachers and parents in order for them to have knowledge of the strategies that can be utilized with pupils for the remediation of the various types of specific learning disabilities.

§ 56338

Added by Stats. 1980, Ch. 1353, Sec. 57. Effective September 30, 1980.

As used in Section 56337, “specific learning disability” includes, but is not limited to, disability within the function of vision which results in visual perceptual or visual motor dysfunction.