SECTIONS 56333-56338 - California Statutes

EDUCATION CODE

SECTION 56333-56338

56333. A pupil shall be assessed as having a language or speech
disorder which makes him or her eligible for special education and
related services when he or she demonstrates difficulty understanding
or using spoken language to such an extent that it adversely affects
his or her 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 spoken language shall be assessed by a language, speech, and
hearing specialist who determines that such difficulty results from
any of the following disorders:
(a) Articulation disorders, such that the pupil's production of
speech significantly interferes with communication and attracts
adverse attention.
(b) Abnormal voice, characterized by persistent, defective voice
quality, pitch, or loudness. An appropriate medical examination shall
be conducted, where appropriate.
(c) Fluency difficulties which result in an abnormal flow of
verbal expression to such a degree that these difficulties adversely
affect communication between the pupil and listener.
(d) Inappropriate or inadequate acquisition, comprehension, or
expression of spoken language such that the pupil's language
performance level is found to be significantly below the language
performance level of his or her peers.
(e) Hearing loss which results in a language or speech disorder
and significantly affects educational performance.

56337. (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 mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of
environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of 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. (a) A pupil who is assessed as being dyslexic and meets
eligibility criteria specified in Section 56337 and subdivision (j)
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 and following) 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. 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.