A bill requiring educators to identify dyslexic children in California public schools has been signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown.
The bill's author, Assemblymember Jim Frazier (D–Oakley), said the law "provides an important first step in addressing a new model that facilitates learning for all students, particularly that of students with learning disabilities.”
Proponents of Assembly Bill 1369 are ecstatic the governor signed it, but Kelli Sandman-Hurley from the Dyslexia Training Institute, said more needs to be done.
"We are really excited that dyslexia is in the law," Sandman-Hurley said. "The word is there. There is awareness. There is better testing/assessing for it. That there is going to be a resource. But we’re really looking forward to taking it a little bit further."
"We took something rather than nothing," she said.
Sandman-Hurley helped to push for the new law. To get the bill onto the governor’s desk she said some compromises were made.
"The one big thing we really wanted was to screen every kid so they never spend one day in special education," Sandman-Hurley said.
The ultimate goal is to have regular teachers teach dyslexic students. Sandman-Hurley said the law as written is better than no law at all.
AB 1369 advocates say they are not going to rest. Sandman-Hurley plans on helping with another law that will require screening for every student from kindergarten to second grade.
According to the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, up to 20 percent of people are dyslexic, many undiagnosed.
