DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part of the
legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute part of the law
or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HB 871 Engrossed 2020 Regular Session Marino
Abstract: Redefines "dyslexia" for the purposes of testing and providing remediation to students.
Present law provides different definitions of "dyslexia" for different purposes. Proposed law retains
present law purposes but provides a uniform definition of the term as follows:
(1)Present law requires the State Bd. of Elementary and Secondary Education to adopt a
program for testing students for dyslexia and related disorders and requires school boards to
provide remediation for dyslexic students in accordance with the program; defines "dyslexia"
for this purpose as a language processing disorder which may be manifested by difficulty
processing expressive or receptive, oral or written language despite adequate intelligence,
educational exposure, and cultural opportunity.
(2)Present law requires every child in public school in grades K-3 to be screened at least once
for the existence of certain impediments, including dyslexia; defines "dyslexia" for this
purpose as in (1) above.
(3)Present law requires, upon the request of a parent, student, or school personnel who has
reason to believe that a student has a need to be tested for dyslexia, that a student be referred
for testing; defines "dyslexia" for this purpose as difficulty with the alphabet, reading,
reading comprehension, writing, and spelling in spite of adequate intelligence, exposure, and
cultural opportunity.
Proposed law redefines"dyslexia" for all present law purposes as an unexpected difficulty in reading
for an individual who has the intelligence to be a much better reader, most commonly caused by a
difficulty in phonological processing, which affects the ability of an individual to speak, read, and
spell; provides that "phonological processing" means the appreciation of the individual sounds of
spoken and written language.
(Amends R.S. 17:7(11)(d)(i) and 2112(B))