Dysgraphia Update New requirements take effect this school year.

By Andrea Kunkel, CCOSA General Counsel and ODSS Executive Director

House Bill 2768, passed during the 2022 Oklahoma legislative session and codified as part of 70 O.S. § 6-194 and 70 O.S. § 1210.517, took effect on November 1, 2022. It includes mandates requiring dysgraphia professional development for district staff members and including information about dysgraphia in the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) Dyslexia Handbook. HB2768 does not include a mandate requiring district screening for dysgraphia.

Beginning with the 2020-21 school year, school staff members have been required to participate in a dyslexia awareness program. Beginning in the 2023-24 school year, that program shall also include information and training in dysgraphia. Oklahoma defines dysgraphia as:

“A specific learning disability that is neurological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/ or fluent handwriting and letter formation. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the orthographic component of language and motor difficulties that are unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in written expression.”

Districts can find OSDE’s dyslexia and dysgraphia awareness training on the OSDE Connect platform at https:// osdeconnect.pdx.catalog. canvaslms.com/courses/dyslexiaawareness-2023-24. Although this self-paced course is titled Dyslexia Awareness 2023-24, it also covers dysgraphia.

HB 2768 also requires OSDE to review and make revisions to its Dyslexia Handbook at least every three years with the assistance of stakeholders and the IDEA Part B State Advisory Panel. The group began meeting during the 2022-23 school year to carry out this process. As part of its review, HB 2768 requires the members to:

■ Study how to effectively identify students who have dysgraphia identified through possible reading and broad written language scores.

■ Study the response-tointervention (RTI) process, as well as other effective researchbased approaches in writing, reading, and literacy to identify the appropriate measures for assisting students with dysgraphia.

■ Make recommendations for appropriate resources and interventions for students with reading or writing difficulties, including dysgraphia and broad written language disorder, to make schools aware of the significance of dysgraphia.

In its revisions, HB 2768 requires the group to include, but not be limited to, the following information for districts screening students in kindergarten and grades one through three who have been identified through the RTI process as having characteristics of dyslexia or dysgraphia:

■ Evidence-based practices designed specifically for students with characteristics of dyslexia or dysgraphia.

■ Characteristics of targeted instruction for dyslexia and dysgraphia.

■ Guidance on developing instructional plans for students with characteristics of dyslexia or dysgraphia.

■ Best practices for reading and writing instruction aligned with the science of reading.

■ Guidance for selecting instructional materials that address dyslexia, dysgraphia, and other reading or writing difficulties.

■ Suggested training programs.

■ Guidance on dysgraphia and dyscalculia. (Unlike dyslexia and dysgraphia, dyscalculia does not have an Oklahoma definition. It is considered a neurocognitive developmental disorder that is not yet fully understood. One agreed characteristic is long-term incapacity to learn number facts.)

Although HB 2768 requires OSDE to complete this process and rename the dyslexia handbook the “dyslexia and dysgraphia handbook” by January 1, 2024, the group completed the process during fall 2023. The renamed handbook, including the required revisions, can be found on the OSDE website at https://sde.ok.gov/sites/ default/files/OK%20Dyslexia%20 and%20Dysgraphia%20 Handbook_7-23_0.pdf

Please make your staff members aware of this newly revised resource and remind them of the dysgraphia awareness professional development mandate now in effect. ■