S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   1480
 
                        2017-2018 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             January 12, 2017
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by M. of A. SIMON, DINOWITZ, M. G. MILLER, SEAWRIGHT, TITONE,
   GOTTFRIED,  COLTON,  COOK,  FINCH,  RODRIGUEZ,  PERRY, FARRELL, LALOR,
   QUART, WEPRIN, O'DONNELL, BUCHWALD,  JAFFEE,  ARROYO,  PEOPLES-STOKES,
   JEAN-PIERRE, WOERNER, BLAKE, ORTIZ, SEPULVEDA, DILAN, HUNTER, RICHARD-
   SON,  DAVILA,  BICHOTTE,  HYNDMAN,  PICHARDO, CRESPO, HARRIS -- Multi-
   Sponsored by -- M.  of A. ABBATE, BARRON, BRAUNSTEIN,  GIGLIO,  GLICK,
   HEVESI,  HIKIND,  HOOPER, JOYNER, LOPEZ, McDONALD, THIELE -- read once
   and referred to the Committee on Education
 
 AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to the  certification  or
   training  of  teachers,  administrators and instructors in the area of
   dyslexia and related disorders
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Section  3004 of the education law is amended by adding a
 new subdivision 7 to read as follows:
   7. A.  NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER PROVISION OF LAW, THE COMMISSIONER IS
 AUTHORIZED AND EMPOWERED TO CERTIFY OR  REQUIRE  TRAINING  OF  TEACHERS,
 ADMINISTRATORS  AND  INSTRUCTORS IN THE AREA OF DYSLEXIA AND ITS RELATED
 DISORDERS. THE COMMISSIONER SHALL HAVE THE POWER TO PRESCRIBE THE NECES-
 SARY REGULATIONS AND ESTABLISH SUCH PROGRAMS AND TRAINING RELATED TO THE
 NEEDS OF CHILDREN WITH DYSLEXIA OR A RELATED DISORDER. SUCH PROGRAMS AND
 TRAINING SHALL INCLUDE, BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO, SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION  OF
 SUFFICIENT  HOURS  OF  COURSEWORK AND SUPERVISED CLINICAL EXPERIENCE, AS
 DETERMINED BY THE COMMISSIONER TO BE EVIDENCE-BASED EFFECTIVE  PROGRAMS,
 SUCH  AS  MULTISENSORY  STRUCTURED  LANGUAGE  EDUCATION OR OTHER SIMILAR
 EDUCATION PROGRAMS FOR TEACHING CHILDREN AT RISK FOR BEING, OR DIAGNOSED
 AS, DYSLEXIC OR A RELATED DISORDER. SUCH PROGRAMS  OR  TRAINING  MAY  BE
 OBTAINED  FROM AN INSTITUTION OR PROVIDER WHICH HAS BEEN APPROVED BY THE
 DEPARTMENT TO PROVIDE SUCH PROGRAMS AND TRAINING.
   B. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION, THE TERM "DYSLEXIA" SHALL MEAN  A
 SPECIFIC  LEARNING  DISORDER  THAT IS NEUROLOGICAL IN ORIGIN AND THAT IS
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD00474-01-7

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 CHARACTERIZED BY UNEXPECTED DIFFICULTIES WITH ACCURATE  OR  FLUENT  WORD
 RECOGNITION  AND  BY POOR SPELLING AND DECODING ABILITIES NOT CONSISTENT
 WITH THE PERSON'S INTELLIGENCE, MOTIVATION,  AND  SENSORY  CAPABILITIES,
 WHICH  DIFFICULTIES  TYPICALLY RESULT FROM A DEFICIT IN THE PHONOLOGICAL
 COMPONENT OF LANGUAGE.
   § 2. Clause (a) and subclause (i) of clause (b) of subparagraph  3  of
 paragraph  b  of  subdivision  1  of  section 4402 of the education law,
 clause (a) as amended by chapter 53 of the laws of  1991  and  subclause
 (i)  of  clause  (b)  as amended by chapter 378 of the laws of 2007, are
 amended to read as follows:
   (a) Obtain, review and evaluate all  relevant  information,  including
 but  not  limited  to  that  presented by the parent, person in parental
 relationship and teacher, pertinent to each child suspected of or  iden-
 tified  as  having  a handicapping condition, including the results of a
 physical examination performed in accordance with sections nine  hundred
 three,  nine  hundred  four  and  nine hundred five of this chapter and,
 where determined to be necessary by a school psychologist, an  appropri-
 ate  psychological evaluation performed by a qualified private or school
 psychologist, and other appropriate assessments as necessary  to  ascer-
 tain  the  physical,  mental, emotional and cultural-educational factors
 which may contribute to the suspected or identified handicapping  condi-
 tion,  and  all  other  school  data which bear on the child's progress,
 including, where appropriate, observation of classroom performance.   IF
 THE  COMMITTEE  OR SUBCOMMITTEE HAS REASON TO BELIEVE THAT THE HANDICAP-
 PING CONDITION MAY INVOLVE DYSLEXIA, AS DEFINED IN PARAGRAPH B OF SUBDI-
 VISION SEVEN OF SECTION THREE  THOUSAND  FOUR  OF  THIS  CHAPTER,  OR  A
 RELATED  DISORDER,  THE CHILD SHALL BE EVALUATED AND TESTED ACCORDING TO
 CURRENT SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING OF DYSLEXIA TO  DETERMINE  WHETHER  THE
 CHILD HAS DYSLEXIA OR A RELATED DISORDER.
   (i) Make recommendations based upon a written evaluation setting forth
 the  reasons for the recommendations, to the child's parent or person in
 parental relation and board of education or trustees as  to  appropriate
 educational  programs and placement in accordance with the provisions of
 subdivision six of section forty-four hundred one-a of this article, and
 as to the advisability of continuation, modification, or termination  of
 special  class or program placements which evaluation shall be furnished
 to the child's parent or person in parental relation together  with  the
 recommendations  provided,  however  that  the committee may recommend a
 placement in a school which uses psychotropic drugs only if such  school
 has  a  written  policy  pertaining  to such use that is consistent with
 subdivision four-a of section thirty-two hundred eight of  this  chapter
 and that the parent or person in parental relation is given such written
 policy  at the time such recommendation is made.  IF THE CHILD IS DETER-
 MINED TO HAVE DYSLEXIA, AS DEFINED IN PARAGRAPH B OF  SUBDIVISION  SEVEN
 OF  SECTION  THREE THOUSAND FOUR OF THIS CHAPTER, OR A RELATED DISORDER,
 THE RECOMMENDATIONS SHALL BE MADE BY THE INDIVIDUAL EDUCATIONAL PLANNING
 TEAM, WHICH SHALL BE KNOWLEDGEABLE IN THE CURRENT SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTAND-
 ING OF DYSLEXIA, INCLUDING THE INSTRUCTIONAL COMPONENTS  AND  APPROACHES
 FOR  STUDENTS WITH DYSLEXIA. If such recommendation is not acceptable to
 the parent or person in parental relation,  such  parent  or  person  in
 parental  relation  may  appeal  such  recommendation as provided for in
 section forty-four hundred four of this [chapter] ARTICLE.
   § 3. Clause (b) of subparagraph 3 of paragraph b of subdivision  1  of
 section 4402 of the education law, as amended by chapter 716 of the laws
 of 1991, is amended to read as follows:

 A. 1480                             3
 
   (b) Make recommendations based upon a written evaluation setting forth
 the  reasons for the recommendations, to the child's parent or person in
 parental relationship and board of education or trustees as to appropri-
 ate educational programs and placement in accordance with the provisions
 of  subdivision six of section forty-four hundred one-a of this article,
 and as to the advisability of continuation, modification, or termination
 of special  class  or  program  placements  which  evaluation  shall  be
 furnished  to  the  child's  parent  or  person in parental relationship
 together with the recommendations provided, however that  the  committee
 may recommend a placement in a school which uses psychotropic drugs only
 if  such school has a written policy pertaining to such use and that the
 parent or person in parental relationship is given such  written  policy
 at  the time such recommendation is made.  IF THE CHILD IS DETERMINED TO
 HAVE DYSLEXIA, AS DEFINED IN PARAGRAPH B OF SUBDIVISION SEVEN OF SECTION
 THREE THOUSAND FOUR OF THIS CHAPTER, OR A RELATED DISORDER,  THE  RECOM-
 MENDATIONS  SHALL  BE  MADE BY THE INDIVIDUAL EDUCATIONAL PLANNING TEAM,
 WHICH  SHALL  BE  KNOWLEDGEABLE  IN  THE  INSTRUCTIONAL  COMPONENTS  AND
 APPROACHES  FOR  STUDENTS  WITH  DYSLEXIA. If such recommendation is not
 acceptable to the parent or person in parental relationship, such parent
 or person in parental relationship may  appeal  such  recommendation  as
 provided  for in section forty-four hundred four of this [chapter] ARTI-
 CLE.
   § 4. Paragraph a of subdivision 2 of section  4402  of  the  education
 law,  as  amended by section 16-a of part A of chapter 56 of the laws of
 2014, is amended to read as follows:
   a. The board of education or trustees of each school district shall be
 required to furnish suitable educational opportunities for students with
 disabilities by one of the special services or programs listed in subdi-
 vision two of section forty-four hundred one of this article.  The  need
 of  the individual child shall determine which of such services shall be
 rendered.  IF THE STUDENT IS A STUDENT WITH DYSLEXIA OR A RELATED DISOR-
 DER, THE DISTRICT SHALL BE REQUIRED  TO  PROVIDE  TO  SUCH  STUDENT  THE
 SERVICES  OF  A  TEACHER  OR  INSTRUCTOR TRAINED IN DYSLEXIA AND RELATED
 DISORDERS PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISION SEVEN OF SECTION THREE  THOUSAND  FOUR
 OF  THIS  CHAPTER.  Each  district  shall  provide to the maximum extent
 appropriate such services in a manner which enables students with  disa-
 bilities  to participate in regular education services when appropriate.
 Such services or programs shall  be  furnished  between  the  months  of
 September  and  June  of each year, except that for the nineteen hundred
 eighty-seven--eighty-eight school year and thereafter, with  respect  to
 the  students  whose  disabilities are severe enough to exhibit the need
 for a structured learning environment of twelve months duration to main-
 tain developmental levels, the board of education or  trustees  of  each
 school  district  upon  the  recommendation  of the committee on special
 education shall also provide, either directly or by  contract,  for  the
 provision  of special services and programs as defined in section forty-
 four hundred one of this article during the months of July and August as
 contained in the individualized  education  program  for  each  eligible
 student,  and  with  prior  approval  by  the  commissioner if required;
 provided that a student with a disability who is eligible for  services,
 including  services  during  the  months of July and August, pursuant to
 section forty-four hundred ten of this article shall not be eligible  to
 receive  services  pursuant  to this paragraph during the months of July
 and August.
   § 5. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day  after  it  shall
 have  become  a  law,  provided  that the amendments to subclause (i) of

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 clause (b) of subparagraph 3 of paragraph b of subdivision 1 of  section
 4402  of  the  education  law  made  by section two of this act shall be
 subject to the expiration and  reversion  of  such  clause  pursuant  to
 section  22 of chapter 352 of the laws of 2005, as amended, and subdivi-
 sion d of section 27 of chapter 378 of the laws  of  2007,  as  amended,
 when  upon  such  date the provisions of section three of this act shall
 take effect.