H.R. 10113: New Improvements to Definitions for Educational Access Act

This bill would update parts of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which is the main federal law governing special education services for children with disabilities.

Main changes to disability definitions

The bill would revise the law’s definitions so that they more clearly include certain conditions under special education categories. In particular, it would:

• Explicitly add developmental language disorder to the category of language impairments.
• Change the autism-related language to refer to autism spectrum disorders.
• Clarify that specific learning disabilities include dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia, with brief descriptions of each condition.
• Expand and rewrite the definition of specific learning disabilities to list examples such as reading disabilities, math disabilities, writing disabilities, perceptual disabilities, and brain injury.

What still would not count as a specific learning disability

The bill would keep, and restate more clearly, the rule that a learning problem is not considered a specific learning disability if it is mainly caused by things such as:

• visual, hearing, or motor disabilities,
• intellectual disability,
• emotional disturbance,
• lack of proper reading instruction,
• lack of proper math instruction, or
• limited English proficiency.

Access to accommodations and services

The bill would add a new section saying that when schools or other agencies decide whether a child is eligible for, or should receive, an accommodation or service under IDEA, they must provide equal access to those services for all eligible children. The text specifically highlights two groups:

• children from low-income households, and
• children with limited English proficiency.

In practical terms, this means schools would be expected to make sure these students are not excluded from disability-related accommodations or services if they qualify.

Overall effect

Overall, the bill would mainly make IDEA’s definitions more explicit and detailed, especially for language disorders and learning disabilities, and would add a statement aimed at ensuring equal access to accommodations and services for eligible children from low-income families and children who are not fully proficient in English.

Relevant Companies

None found