EHB(LEGAL) - CURRICULUM DESIGN: SPECIAL PROGRAMS

Parental Notice of Assistance for Learning Difficulties

Each school year, a district shall notify a parent of each child, other than a child enrolled in a special education program under Education Code Chapter 29, Subchapter A, who receives assistance from the district for learning difficulties, including through the use of intervention strategies that the district provides that assistance to the child. The notice must:

  1. Be provided when the child begins to receive the assistance for that school year;
  2. Be written in English or, to the extent practicable, the parent's native language; and
  3. Include:
    1. A reasonable description of the assistance that may be provided to the child, including any intervention strategies that may be used;
    2. Information collected regarding any intervention in the base tier of a multi-tiered system of supports that has previously been used with the child;
    3. An estimate of the duration for which the assistance, including through the use of intervention strategies, will be provided;
    4. The estimated time frames within which a report on the child's progress with the assistance, including any intervention strategies used, will be provided to the parent; and
    5. A copy of the explanation provided under Education Code 26.0081(c). [See FB]

This required notice may be provided to a child's parent at a meeting of the team established for the child under Section 504, Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. Section 794), if applicable.

Education Code 26.0081(d)–(e)

"Intervention strategy" means a strategy in a multi-tiered system of supports that is above the level of intervention generally used in that system with all children. The term includes response to intervention and other early intervening strategies. Education Code 26.004(a)

Dyslexia and Related Disorders

Districts shall provide each student with dyslexia or a related disorder access to each program under which the student qualifies for services. A board must ensure that procedures for identifying a student with dyslexia or a related disorder and for providing appropriate, evidence-based instructional services to students are implemented in the district.

District procedures must be implemented according to the State Board of Education (SBOE) approved strategies for screening, individualized evaluation, and techniques for treating dyslexia and related disorders. The strategies and techniques are described in the Dyslexia Handbook: Procedures Concerning Dyslexia and Related Disorders available on TEA's Dyslexia and Related Disorders webpage. Districts shall provide a copy or a link to the electronic version of the Dyslexia Handbook to parents of children suspected to have dyslexia or a related disorder.

Districts will be subject to monitoring for compliance with federal law and regulations in connection with 19 Administrative Code 74.28.

19 TAC 74.28(a)–(c), (l)–(m)

Compliance Monitoring

Districts will be subject to monitoring for compliance with federal law and regulations in connection with 19 Administrative Code 74.28. Districts will be subject to auditing and monitoring for compliance with state dyslexia laws in accordance with administrative rules adopted by the commissioner of education as required by Education Code 38.003(c-1). 19 TAC 74.28(n)

Screening, Testing, and Identification

Students enrolling in public schools in Texas shall be screened or tested, as appropriate, for dyslexia and related disorders at appropriate times in accordance with a program approved by the SBOE. The program must include screening at the end of the school year of each student in kindergarten and each student in the first grade. Education Code 38.003(a)

A process for early identification, intervention, and support for students at risk for dyslexia and related disorders must be available, as outlined in the Dyslexia Handbook. A district may not use early intervention strategies, including multi-tiered systems of support, to delay or deny the provision of a full and individual evaluation to a child suspected of having a specific learning disability, including dyslexia or a related disorder.

Screening, as described in the Dyslexia Handbook, and further evaluation should only be conducted by individuals who are trained in valid, evidence-based assessments and who are trained to appropriately evaluate students for dyslexia and related disorders.

19 TAC 74.28(d), (j)

Parent Notification

At least five school days before any identification or evaluation procedure is used selectively with an individual student, a district must provide written notification of the proposed identification or evaluation to the student's parent or guardian or another person standing in parental relation to the student. The notice must be in English, or to the extent practicable, the individual's native language and must include the following:

  1. A reasonable description of the evaluation procedure to be used with the individual student;
  2. Information related to any instructional intervention or strategy used to assist the student prior to evaluation;
  3. An estimated time frame within which the evaluation will be completed; and
  4. Specific contact information for the campus point of contact, relevant parent training and information projects, and any other appropriate parent resources.

IDEA Notice

Before a full individual and initial evaluation is conducted to determine whether a student has a disability under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a district must notify the student's parent or guardian or another person standing in parental relation to the student of its proposal to conduct an evaluation consistent with 34 C.F.R. 300.503, provide all the information required in the above notice, and provide an opportunity for written consent for the evaluation. The district must also provide a copy of the IDEA procedural safeguards notice required under 34 C.F.R. 300.504 and a copy of Section 504 information required under Education Code 26.0081. [See EHBAE and FB]

Options and Services

Parents or guardians of a student with dyslexia or a related disorder must be informed of all services and options available to the student, including general education interventions under response to intervention and multi-tiered systems of support models as required by Education Code 26.0081(d), and options under federal law, including IDEA, and the Rehabilitation Act, Section 504.

19 TAC 74.28(f)–(h)

Parent Education

A district shall provide a parent education program for parents and guardians of students with dyslexia and related disorders. This program must include:

  1. Awareness and characteristics of dyslexia and related disorders;
  2. Information on testing and diagnosis of dyslexia and related disorders;
  3. Information on effective strategies for teaching students with dyslexia and related disorders;
  4. Information on qualifications of those delivering services to students with dyslexia and related disorders;
  5. Awareness of information on accommodations and modifications, especially those allowed for standardized testing;
  6. Information on eligibility, evaluation requests, and services available under IDEA and Section 504 and information on the response to intervention process; and
  7. Contact information for the relevant regional and/or district specialists.

Education Code 38.003; 19 TAC 74.28(l)

Treatment

Each school must provide each identified student access at his or her campus to instructional programs required at Reading Program, below, and to the services of a teacher trained in dyslexia and related disorders. A district may, with the approval of each student's parents or guardians, offer additional services at a centralized location, but centralized services shall not preclude each student from receiving services at his or her campus. 19 TAC 74.28(i)

Reading Program

A district shall purchase a reading program or develop its own reading program that is aligned with the descriptors in the Dyslexia Handbook.

Teachers who screen and treat these students must be trained in instructional strategies that use individualized, intensive, multisensory, phonetic methods and a variety of writing and spelling components described in the Dyslexia Handbook. The professional development activities specified by the district- and/or campus-level committees shall include these instructional strategies.

19 TAC 74.28(e)

Reassessment

Unless otherwise provided by law, a student determined to have dyslexia during screening or testing or accommodated because of dyslexia may not be rescreened or retested for dyslexia for the purpose of reassessing the student's need for accommodations until the district reevaluates the information obtained from previous screening or testing of the student. Education Code 38.003(b-1)

Audiobook Program Notification

A district shall notify the parent or guardian of each student determined, on the basis of a dyslexia or related disorder screening or other basis, to have dyslexia or a related disorder, or determined, on the basis of reading instrument results, to be at risk for dyslexia or other reading difficulties of the program maintained by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission providing students with reading disabilities the ability to borrow audiobooks free of charge. The notification shall be done in accordance with the program developed by the commissioner. Education Code 28.006(g-2)

Manor ISD

EHB(LEGAL)-P

UPDATE 115

DATE ISSUED: 7/14/2020