The State of Dyslexia: Recent Legislation and Guidelines for Serving School-Age Children and Adolescents With Dyslexia

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of recent dyslexia legislation and guidelines pertaining to services for students with dyslexia in public school settings and to describe possible implications for speech-language pathologists (SlPs). Method: In recent years, there has been increased attention focused on effectively meeting the needs of students with dyslexia nationwide. The Decoding Dyslexia organization has chapters in all 50 states in the nation, and they have been instrumental in promoting public awareness of the importance of improving services for students with dyslexia. As a result, new legislation, policies and guidelines have been introduced and developed in many states. California is an example of 1 state that has recently passed legislation in this area and released guidelines that serve as recommendations related to this law. This article provides a broad overview of recent dyslexia legislation, with more specific information pertaining to recent legislation and guidelines in the state of California. Clinical implications for SLPs who serve this population in school settings are also discussed. Conclusion: The information discussed in this article may serve as a useful model for states that are in the process of developing or revising their own policies or guidelines for meeting the needs of students with dyslexia.