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H. B. No. 572 As IntroducedAs Introduced
128th General Assembly | Regular Session | 2009-2010 |
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Representatives Celeste, Batchelder
Cosponsors:
Representatives Weddington, Garland, Belcher, Murray, Harris, Foley, Phillips, Letson, Williams, B., Fende, Lundy, Driehaus, Pillich, Snitchler, Bacon, Lehner, Garrison, Brown, Evans, Sears, Hagan, Heard, Yuko, Adams, J., Combs, Grossman, Skindell, Stebelton, Chandler, Harwood, Stautberg
A BILL
To amend section 3323.01 and to enact section 3323.25
of the Revised Code to specify dyslexia as a
specific learning disability and to require a
pilot project to provide early screening and
intervention services for children with dyslexia.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That section 3323.01 be amended and section
3323.25 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:
Sec. 3323.01. As used in this chapter:
(A) "Child with a disability" means a child who is at least
three years of age and less than twenty-two years of age; who has
mental retardation, a hearing impairment (including deafness), a
speech or language impairment, a visual impairment (including
blindness), a serious emotional disturbance, an orthopedic
impairment, autism, traumatic brain injury, an other health
impairment, a specific learning disability (including dyslexia),
deaf-blindness, or multiple disabilities; and who, by reason
thereof, needs special education and related services.
A "child with a disability" may include a child who is at
least three years of age and less than six years of age; who is
experiencing developmental delays, as defined by standards adopted
by the state board of education and as measured by appropriate
diagnostic instruments and procedures in one or more of the
following areas: physical development, cognitive development,
communication development, social or emotional development, or
adaptive development; and who, by reason thereof, needs special
education and related services.
(B) "County DD board" means a county board of developmental
disabilities.
(C) "Free appropriate public education" means special
education and related services that meet all of the following:
(1) Are provided at public expense, under public supervision
and direction, and without charge;
(2) Meet the standards of the state board of education;
(3) Include an appropriate preschool, elementary, or
secondary education as otherwise provided by the law of this
state;
(4) Are provided for each child with a disability in
conformity with the child's individualized education program.
(D) "Homeless children" means "homeless children and youths"
as defined in section 725 of the "McKinney-Vento Homeless
Assistance Act," 42 U.S.C. 11434a.
(E) "Individualized education program" or "IEP" means the
written statement described in section 3323.011 of the Revised
Code.
(F) "Individualized education program team" or "IEP team"
means a group of individuals composed of:
(1) The parents of a child with a disability;
(2) At least one regular education teacher of the child, if
the child is or may be participating in the regular education
environment;
(3) At least one special education teacher, or where
appropriate, at least one special education provider of the child;
(4) A representative of the school district who meets all of
the following:
(a) Is qualified to provide, or supervise the provision of,
specially designed instruction to meet the unique needs of
children with disabilities;
(b) Is knowledgeable about the general education curriculum;
(c) Is knowledgeable about the availability of resources of
the school district.
(5) An individual who can interpret the instructional
implications of evaluation results, who may be a member of the
team as described in divisions (F)(2) to (4) of this section;
(6) At the discretion of the parent or the school district,
other individuals who have knowledge or special expertise
regarding the child, including related services personnel as
appropriate;
(7) Whenever appropriate, the child with a disability.
(G) "Instruction in braille reading and writing" means the
teaching of the system of reading and writing through touch
commonly known as standard English braille.
(H) "Other educational agency" means a department, division,
bureau, office, institution, board, commission, committee,
authority, or other state or local agency, which is not a city,
local, or exempted village school district or an agency
administered by the department of developmental disabilities, that
provides or seeks to provide special education or related services
to children with disabilities. The term "other educational agency"
includes a joint vocational school district.
(I) "Parent" of a child with a disability, except as used in
sections 3323.09 and 3323.141 of the Revised Code, means:
(1) A natural or adoptive parent of a child but not a foster
parent of a child;
(2) A guardian, but not the state if the child is a ward of
the state;
(3) An individual acting in the place of a natural or
adoptive parent, including a grandparent, stepparent, or other
relative, with whom the child lives, or an individual who is
legally responsible for the child's welfare;
(4) An individual assigned to be a surrogate parent, provided
the individual is not prohibited by this chapter from serving as a
surrogate parent for a child.
(J) "Preschool child with a disability" means a child with a
disability who is at least three years of age but is not of
compulsory school age, as defined under section 3321.01 of the
Revised Code, and who is not currently enrolled in kindergarten.
(K) "Related services" means transportation, and such
developmental, corrective, and other supportive services
(including speech-language pathology and audiology services,
interpreting services, psychological services, physical and
occupational therapy, recreation, including therapeutic
recreation, school nurse services designed to enable a child with
a disability to receive a free appropriate public education as
described in the individualized education program of the child,
counseling services, including rehabilitation counseling,
orientation and mobility services, school health services, social
work services in schools, and parent counseling and training, and
medical services, except that such medical services shall be for
diagnostic and evaluation purposes only) as may be required to
assist a child with a disability to benefit from special
education, and includes the early identification and assessment of
disabling conditions in children. "Related services" does not
include a medical device that is surgically implanted, or the
replacement of such device.
(L) "School district" means a city, local, or exempted
village school district.
(M) "School district of residence," as used in sections
3323.09, 3323.091, 3323.13, and 3323.14 of the Revised Code,
means:
(1) The school district in which the child's natural or
adoptive parents reside;
(2) If the school district specified in division (M)(1) of
this section cannot be determined, the last school district in
which the child's natural or adoptive parents are known to have
resided if the parents' whereabouts are unknown;
(3) If the school district specified in division (M)(2) of
this section cannot be determined, the school district determined
under section 2151.362 of the Revised Code, or if no district has
been so determined, the school district as determined by the
probate court of the county in which the child resides.
(4) Notwithstanding divisions (M)(1) to (3) of this section,
if a school district is required by section 3313.65 of the Revised
Code to pay tuition for a child, that district shall be the
child's school district of residence.
(N) "Special education" means specially designed instruction,
at no cost to parents, to meet the unique needs of a child with a
disability. "Special education" includes instruction conducted in
the classroom, in the home, in hospitals and institutions, and in
other settings, including an early childhood education setting,
and instruction in physical education.
(O) "Student with a visual impairment" means any person who
is less than twenty-two years of age and who has a visual
impairment as that term is defined in this section.
(P) "Transition services" means a coordinated set of
activities for a child with a disability that meet all of the
following:
(1) Is designed to be within a results-oriented process, that
is focused on improving the academic and functional achievement of
the child with a disability to facilitate the child's movement
from school to post-school activities, including post-secondary
education; vocational education; integrated employment (including
supported employment); continuing and adult education; adult
services; independent living; or community participation;
(2) Is based on the individual child's needs, taking into
account the child's strengths, preferences, and interests;
(3) Includes instruction, related services, community
experiences, the development of employment and other post-school
adult living objectives, and, when appropriate, acquisition of
daily living skills and functional vocational evaluation.
"Transition services" for children with disabilities may be
special education, if provided as specially designed instruction,
or may be a related service, if required to assist a child with a
disability to benefit from special education.
(Q) "Visual impairment" for any individual means that one of
the following applies to the individual:
(1) The individual has a visual acuity of 20/200 or less in
the better eye with correcting lenses or has a limited field of
vision in the better eye such that the widest diameter subtends an
angular distance of no greater than twenty degrees.
(2) The individual has a medically indicated expectation of
meeting the requirements of division (Q)(1) of this section over a
period of time.
(3) The individual has a medically diagnosed and medically
uncorrectable limitation in visual functioning that adversely
affects the individual's ability to read and write standard print
at levels expected of the individual's peers of comparable ability
and grade level.
(R) "Ward of the state" has the same meaning as in section
602(36) of the "Individuals with Disabilities Education
Improvement Act of 2004," 20 U.S.C. 1401(36).
Sec. 3323.25. (A) The superintendent of public instruction
shall establish a pilot project to provide early screening and
intervention services for children with dyslexia through three
separate partnerships, each between a school district and a
regional library or library system. One of the school
district-library partnerships shall be established in an urban
setting, one in a suburban setting, and one in a rural setting.
The superintendent shall solicit and select three school districts
and three corresponding regional libraries or library systems to
participate in the pilot project. The pilot project shall operate
for three full school years, beginning with the school year that
begins at least three months after the effective date of this
section.
The goal of the pilot project shall be to demonstrate and
evaluate the effectiveness of early reading assistance programs
for children with dyslexia and to evaluate whether those programs
can reduce future special education costs.
The superintendent shall apply for private and other nonstate
funds, and shall use available state funds appropriated to the
department of education for the pilot project.
The superintendent shall establish guidelines and procedures
for the pilot project.
The superintendent shall consult with the international
dyslexia association in establishing and operating the pilot
project.
(B) Under the pilot project, each participating school
district-library partnership, through early childhood reading
instruction and reading assistance programs, shall screen children
six years of age or younger for indications of dyslexia, provide
appropriate reading intervention services for those children
suspected of having dyslexia, and administer assessments, approved
by the state superintendent, to ascertain whether the intervention
services improve those students' reading and learning. Each
partnership shall provide to the parents of children suspected of
having dyslexia information about the learning disability,
recommended multisensory treatment, and possible services under
this chapter.
Each participating school district-library partnership shall
report to the state superintendent data about the operation and
results of the pilot project, as required by the superintendent in
the manner prescribed by the superintendent.
(C) Not later than the thirty-first day of December of the
third school year in which the pilot project is operating, the
state superintendent shall submit a report to the general
assembly, in accordance with section 101.68 of the Revised Code,
containing the superintendent's evaluation of the results of the
pilot project and legislative recommendations whether to continue,
expand, or make changes to the pilot project.
(D) As used in this section, "dyslexia" means a specific
learning disorder that is neurological in origin and that is
characterized by difficulties with accurate or fluent word
recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities, which
difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological
component of language.
Section 2. That existing section 3323.01 of the Revised Code
is hereby repealed.
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