H.R.7610 - 21st Century Dyslexia Act was cosponsored by Julia Brownley, Larry Bucshon, James McGovern and Steven Palazzo.
It was referred to the Education and Labor committee.
This bill addresses the education of children with disabilities, with a particular focus on children with dyslexia.
Currently, dyslexia is listed as one of the disabilities under the definition of specific learning disability in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This bill instead removes dyslexia from the definition of specific learning disability and establishes a stand-alone definition for dyslexia within IDEA.
Specifically, the bill defines dyslexia for purposes of IDEA as an unexpected difficulty in reading for an individual who has the intelligence to be a much better reader, most commonly caused by a difficulty in the phonological processing (the appreciation of the individual sounds of spoken language), which affects the ability of an individual to speak, read, and spell.
Additionally, the bill requires a local educational agency or other agency, in determining eligibility for or providing an accommodation or service under IDEA, to provide equal access to (1) children from low-income families or from families with low socioeconomic status, and (2) other children.
117th CONGRESS 2d Session |
To amend the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to improve provisions relating to dyslexia, and for other purposes.
April 27, 2022
Mr. Westerman (for himself, Ms. Brownley, Mr. Bucshon, Mr. McGovern, and Mr. Palazzo) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor
To amend the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to improve provisions relating to dyslexia, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
This Act may be cited as the “21st Century Dyslexia Act”.
(a) Definitions.—Section 602 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1401) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (3)(A), by striking “or specific learning disabilities” and inserting “dyslexia, or specific learning disabilities”;
(2) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following:
“(4) DYSLEXIA.—The term ‘dyslexia’ means an unexpected difficulty in reading for an individual who has the intelligence to be a much better reader, most commonly caused by a difficulty in the phonological processing (the appreciation of the individual sounds of spoken language), which affects the ability of an individual to speak, read, and spell.”; and
(A) in subparagraph (B), by striking “dyslexia,”; and
(i) by striking “or of” and inserting “of”; and
(ii) by inserting before the period the following: “, or of dyslexia”.
(b) Provision of accommodations and services.—The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is amended by inserting after section 608 (20 U.S.C. 1407) the following:
“SEC. 608A. Provision of accommodations and services.
“In determining eligibility for, or providing, an accommodation or service under this title, a local educational agency or other agency shall provide equal access, to the accommodation or service, to—
“(1) children from low-income families or from families with low socioeconomic status; and
“(2) other children.”.
You can read the bill here.
