ERIC Number: EJ1449951
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024-May
Pages: 3
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0938-8982
EISSN: EISSN-1540-5826
DLD Policy Brief: A Synopsis of Federal-Level Dyslexia Law
Elizabeth Zagata
Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, v39 n2 p57-59 2024
Dyslexia is a word-level reading disability that impacts decoding and encoding skills (International Dyslexia Association [IDA], 2002). The estimated prevalence of individuals impacted by dyslexia varies from 5% to 20% (Phillips & Odegard, 2017). In the United States, the primary legislation overseeing special education is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and in this statute, dyslexia is included under the disability category of specific learning disability (SLD). Additionally, the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) at the United States Department of Education has issued specific guidance about dyslexia in recent years (Musgrove, 2011; Ryder, 2016, 2018; Yudin, 2015). In addition to dyslexia's inclusion in both the predominate special education federal statute and ongoing federal agency guidance, many states have passed state-level dyslexia laws. In fact, currently 49 states and the District of Columbia have state-level legislation that addresses dyslexia (National Center on Improving Literacy, 2023), most of it passed in the last 10 years (Gearin et al., 2020). These laws were largely advocated for by parents through organizations such as Decoding Dyslexia (Gabriel, 2020; Gearin et al., 2020; Worthy et al., 2017), and most of them have similar provisions addressing teacher training, screening, identification, and intervention (Ward-Lonergan & Duthie, 2018; Youman & Mather, 2013; Zirkel, 2020). While the recent proliferation of state-level dyslexia laws in the United States has understandably received much attention, there has been action at the federal level as well. Given the wide-ranging impacts of national dyslexia legislation, DLD is providing this summary so that the profession is aware of the dyslexia legislative landscape at the federal level.
Descriptors: Dyslexia, Federal Legislation, Equal Education, Educational Legislation, Students with Disabilities, Special Education, Disability Identification
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2993
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) (ED/OSERS)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Laws, Policies, & Programs: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
Grant or Contract Numbers: H325H190003