Louisiana
State Education Agency (SEA) Dyslexia Legislation
Has Legislation?YesLouisiana Title 28 Education Part XXXV
Unlike most states, Louisiana has had state law on dyslexia since at least the 1990s. Current policies are the culmination of a piecemeal process too lengthy to describe in detail here. Most provisions related to dyslexia education are described under Title 28 of Louisiana's Laws.
Screening
Required?Yes- Response to Intervention for Student Learning Disability Eligibility in 2010?
- Required by law
- Student Learning Disability Eligibility (Zirkel & Thomas 2010 Classification)?
- RTI required, SD prohibited, Other permitted in combination with other approach (ambiguities in legislation noted)
Every public school student in grades kindergarten through third should be screened at least once for the existence of impediments to a successful school experience, unless objected to by his or her parents. Such impairments include: dyslexia and related disorders, attention deficit disorder, social and environmental factors that may put a child at risk. At any time outside of grade level screenings, students may also be screened if referred to the SBLC and the committee deems such screening to be appropriate.
State Recognized Screeners
AIMSweb, DIBELS 6th Edition, DIBELS Next, STAR, STEEP Advanced Literacy, Fontas and Pinnell Initial Sounds, Phonograms, Oral Reading Rate, and Reading Comprehension, FAST, SRI, HMH, STEP. See also Louisiana Title 28 which lists additional screeners.
Pre-service
Required?NoLouisiana does not have pre-service legislation related to dyslexia.
In-service
Required?YesScreening specialists require 18 clock hours of training in the following areas: characteristics of ADHD, characteristics of dyslexia, characteristics of social and emotional Risk Factors; use of appropriate screening instruments; administration and interpretation of LEA-selected screening instruments; operation and administration of building-level committee; selection of classroom strategies, accommodations, and modifications; and child advocacy. More details can be found in Title 28, which describes the guidelines and regulations concerning the implementation of Louisiana dyslexia law.:
Intervention
Required?YesThe law states, "In accordance with the program adopted by the board, the city and parish school boards shall provide remediation for children with dyslexia or related disorders in an appropriate multi-sensory, intensive phonetic, synthetic to analytic phonics, linguistic, meaning based, systematic, language-based regular education program. For those students who are not dyslexic and who do not qualify for special education services, other appropriate programs shall be offered to remediate their particular physical or educational disorders." State guidance documents indicate that multisensory language programs should include direct instruction.
Possible Interventions
Alphabetic Phonics; Intermediate Essential Language Structures Program; Language!; Language Circle; Slingerland; Wilson Language Training.
Literacy State-identified Measurable Result (SIMR) - Part B
Has Literacy SIMR?Yes
Resources
A Guide to Dyslexia in Louisiana
International Dyslexia Association Louisiana
Citations
Zirkel, P. A., & Thomas, L. B. (2010). State laws for RTI: An updated snapshot. Teaching Exceptional Children, 42(3), 56-63.
Gearin, B., Turtura, J., Kame’enui, E. J., Nelson, N. J., & Fien, H. (2018). A Multiple Streams Analysis of Recent Changes to State-Level Dyslexia Education Law. Educational Policy, 0895904818807328.
Disclaimer: We cannot guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this page. If you see missing or incorrect information, let us know!
Has Dyslexia Legislation?Yes
Screening Requirement?Yes
Pre-service Requirement?No
In-service Requirement?Yes
Intervention Requirement?Yes
Has Literacy SIMR?Yes
The research reported here is funded by awards to the National Center on Improving Literacy from the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, in partnership with the Office of Special Education Programs (Award #: S283D160003). The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of OESE, OSEP, or the U.S. Department of Education. Copyright © 2024 National Center on Improving Literacy. https://www.improvingliteracy.org