Mississippi

State Education Agency (SEA) Dyslexia Legislation

Has Legislation?Yes

Parent Opt-Out/Consent Procedures by Law?
No
SEA Recognizes IDA Definition?
Yes
SEA Recognizes State Definition?
No
SEA Has Dyslexia Specialist?
No

HB 1031, HB950, and HB1046

This law establishes the Mississippi dyslexia therapy scholarship; defines dyslexia; requires that all compulsory-school-age children be screened for dyslexia during the period between the spring of kindergarten and the fall of grade 1 and other appropriate times as deemed necessary; requires that students receive comprehensive academic evaluations by trained diagnosticians in the diagnosis of dyslexia if screening indicates risk of dyslexia; requires the Department of Education to submit an annual report to the legislature summarizing student performance, student assessments, funding and any recommended changes; and prescribes dyslexia qualifications for administrative and instructional personnel.

Screening

Required?Yes

Parents Must Be Notified of Results?
Yes
SEA Publishes List of Screeners?
No
Annual Reporting to the SEA?
Yes
Response to Intervention for Student Learning Disability Eligibility in 2010?
Permitted by law
Severe Discrepancy for Student Learning Disability Eligibility in 2010?
Permitted by law
Student Learning Disability Eligibility (Zirkel & Thomas 2010 Classification)?
RTI, SD, and Other permitted. LEA must first consider RTI and/or allow any combination of the three.

According to HB 1031,  (1)  "(a)  Each local school district shall adopt a policy to ensure that students will be screened in the Spring of kindergarten and the Fall of Grade 1.  The component of the screening must include: (i)  Phonological awareness and phonemic awareness; (ii)  Sound symbol recognition; (iii)  Alphabet knowledge; (iv) Decoding skills; (v) Encoding skills; and (vi)  Rapid naming. (b)  If a student fails the screener, the parent or legal guardian will be notified of the results of the screener. Subsequent dyslexia evaluations may be administered by licensed professionals, including: (i) Psychologists, licensed under Chapter 31, Title 73, Mississippi Code of 1972; (ii)  Psychometrists, licensed by the Mississippi Department of Education; (iii)  Speech Language Pathologists, licensed under Chapter 38, Title 73, Mississippi Code of 1972. (c)  If a student fails the screener, the school district, in its discretion, may perform a comprehensive dyslexia evaluation, such evaluation must be administered by any of the licensed professionals identified under paragraph (b) of this subsection. (d)  If a parent or legal guardian of a student who fails the dyslexia screener exercises the option to have a subsequent evaluation performed, such evaluation shall be administered by any of the licensed professionals identified under paragraph (b) of this subsection, and the resulting diagnosis of the subsequent evaluation must be accepted by the school district for purposes of determining eligibility for placement within a dyslexia therapy program within the current school or to receive a Mississippi Dyslexia Therapy Scholarship for placement in a dyslexia program in another public school or nonpublic special purpose school."

State Recognized Screeners

Visit the state department of education website for up-to-date information about screeners.

Pre-service

Required?No

Mississippi does not have pre-service legislation related to dyslexia.

In-service

Required?No

Mississippi does not have in-service legislation related to dyslexia.

The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) notes that training is required for dyslexia specialists, but such training is not required by law. For general recommendations, see: Mississippi Dyslexia Handbook

Intervention

Required?Yes

Multisensory?
Promoted
Explicit/Direct?
Promoted
MTSS/RTI?
Promoted

Mississippi does not require dyslexia intervention per se. However, The LBPA states, “Each public school student who exhibits a substantial deficiency in reading at any time, as demonstrated through performance on a reading screener approved or developed by the State Department of Education or through locally determined assessments and teacher observations conducted in Kindergarten and Grades 1 through 3 or through statewide end-of-year assessments or approved alternate yearly assessments in Grade 3, must be given intensive reading instruction and intervention immediately following the identification of the reading deficiency. The intensive reading instruction and intervention must be documented for each student in an individual reading plan, which includes, at a minimum, the following: (a) The student's specific, diagnosed reading skill deficiencies as determined (or identified) by diagnostic assessment data; (b) The goals and benchmarks for growth; (c) How progress will be monitored and evaluated; (d) The type of additional instructional services and interventions the student will receive; (e) The research-based reading instructional programming the teacher will use to provide reading instruction, addressing the areas of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension; (f) The strategies the student's parent is encouraged to use in assisting the student to achieve reading competency;  and (g) Any additional services the teacher deems available and appropriate to accelerate the student's reading skill development.”

Though not required by state law, interventions should be multisensory, systematic,  specific language-based instructional programs. See the MDE handbook for details.

Literacy State-identified Measurable Result (SIMR) - Part B

Has Literacy SIMR?Yes

The SSIP states that Mississippi will increase the percentage of third-grade students with Specific Learning Disability and Language/Speech rulings in targeted districts who score proficient or higher on the regular statewide reading assessment to 68 percent by FFY 2018.

Resources

Mississippi Dyslexia Handbook

Decoding Dyslexia Mississippi

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.

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Last modified: 
09/04/2022 - 4:41pm