Dyslexia IEP in Kansas: Getting the Right Evaluation, Services, and Reading Program

The district told you your child reads below grade level and is "just developing at their own pace." The reading specialist says to give it time. The third-grade teacher says your child tries really hard. Meanwhile, your child is in tears every night over homework, avoiding books, and losing ground academically while everyone assures you they are being supported.

If your child has dyslexia — or you suspect they might — here is what the law requires in Kansas, what a legitimate evaluation looks like, and what you can do when the district is not providing what the evidence demands.

Dyslexia Under Kansas Law

Kansas uses the term "Specific Learning Disability" (SLD) under its special education framework, consistent with the IDEA definition. Dyslexia is explicitly recognized as a type of Specific Learning Disability affecting reading. Under federal law and Kansas regulations, the U.S. Department of Education has clarified that schools cannot refuse to use the word "dyslexia" in evaluations or IEPs when that term accurately describes the student's disability.

Students with dyslexia who need specialized instruction to access the curriculum are entitled to an IEP under IDEA and Kansas special education law. A 504 plan providing accommodations (extended time, audiobooks) may help a student cope with dyslexia — but it does not address the underlying reading deficit. A student who needs to learn to read more effectively requires specialized instruction, which is an IEP function, not a 504 function.

What a Proper Dyslexia Evaluation Includes

This is where many Kansas IEP disputes begin. Districts conduct basic reading assessments and conclude the student "does not meet criteria for SLD." A thorough dyslexia evaluation looks much deeper than basic reading achievement scores.

A comprehensive evaluation for suspected dyslexia should include:

Cognitive assessment (IQ testing). Not for IQ as a label, but to assess phonological processing, working memory, processing speed, and the relationship between cognitive potential and academic performance.

Phonological processing measures. The CTOPP-2 (Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing) or equivalent assesses phonological awareness, phonological memory, and rapid automatized naming — the three core deficit areas in dyslexia.

Academic achievement battery. Reading decoding, oral reading fluency, reading comprehension, spelling, and written expression — separately assessed, not bundled.

Language processing. Listening comprehension, vocabulary, and oral language to distinguish dyslexia from broader language processing disorders.

Reading history and classroom observation. Teacher input, work samples, and the student's reading history, including response to prior interventions.

Under K.A.R. 91-40-11, Specific Learning Disability evaluations in Kansas require specific team composition including the child's regular education teacher and at least one professional qualified to conduct individual diagnostic examinations — such as a school psychologist or remedial reading specialist. A team that lacks these required members is not conducting a valid SLD evaluation.

If the district's evaluation did not include phonological processing measures and focused primarily on reading achievement scores, it is almost certainly inadequate for identifying dyslexia.

Requesting an Independent Educational Evaluation

If the district evaluated your child and concluded they do not have a Specific Learning Disability — or identified SLD but proposed a program you believe is inadequate — you can request an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) at public expense under K.A.R. 91-40-12.

Your IEE request letter should:

• State clearly that you disagree with the district's evaluation
• Reference K.A.R. 91-40-12 and request that the district fund an independent evaluation by a qualified professional unaffiliated with the district
• Request the district's criteria for an independent evaluator and the maximum allowable cost for the evaluation

The district must respond by either: (a) agreeing to fund the IEE, or (b) immediately filing for due process to defend its own evaluation. It cannot delay, negotiate, or use cooperative-affiliated staff as the "independent" evaluator.

An independent evaluation by a certified educational therapist or neuropsychologist who specializes in dyslexia will provide the phonological processing data the district's evaluation likely missed.

What a Dyslexia IEP Should Include

Once eligibility is established, the IEP team must design a program that provides FAPE. For students with dyslexia, a FAPE-providing program typically includes:

Structured literacy instruction. Research-based, structured literacy programs — such as Orton-Gillingham-based approaches, Wilson Reading System, or RAVE-O — are the evidence-based standard for dyslexia intervention. A district proposing general "reading support" or leveled reader groups is not meeting the dyslexia-specific research standard.

Explicit reading goals. IEP goals for dyslexia should target decoding, fluency, and spelling explicitly and measurably. A goal that says "student will improve reading" is not measurable. A goal that says "student will accurately decode multisyllabic words with common prefixes and suffixes at 80% accuracy in four out of five trials" is.

Adequate service time. Research on dyslexia intervention suggests that intensive remediation requires at least 60-90 minutes of structured literacy instruction per day for students with significant deficits. An IEP offering 30 minutes per week of reading support may be legally insufficient to provide educational benefit.

Accommodations in addition to instruction. Accommodations such as audiobooks, text-to-speech, extended time, and modified spelling expectations allow the student to access grade-level content while remediation occurs. These are not alternatives to instruction — they work alongside it.

Progress monitoring with reading-specific measures. Progress should be monitored using reading-specific probes (CBM-R or similar), not just teacher judgment. Request the raw data behind every progress report.

When the District Offers RTI Instead of an IEP

Response to Intervention (RTI) or Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) is a legitimate early intervention framework. It is not a substitute for a special education evaluation when a parent requests one.

Kansas regulations require schools to implement General Education Interventions (GEI) before referring for special education — but if a parent requests an evaluation in writing, the district must either conduct it or explain in writing why it is refusing. A district that tells you your child needs to "go through the RTI process first" before receiving a special education evaluation may be imposing an unlawful pre-evaluation barrier.

If your child has been in RTI for more than two years without meaningful reading progress and the district is still refusing to evaluate for SLD, submit a formal written evaluation request citing K.A.R. 91-40-8(f) and the 60-school-day timeline. The district must respond.

Getting the Right Reading Program: When to Escalate

If the district has identified SLD, created an IEP, but is providing a generic reading program that is not structured literacy — or is providing structured literacy but with inadequate intensity — you have two parallel paths:

1. Request an IEP meeting and present the independent evaluation data. The IEP team must consider independent evaluation findings when developing or revising the IEP.

2. File a KSDE formal state complaint if the district refuses to incorporate the independent evaluator's recommendations or continues to provide a program that does not reflect the current research base for dyslexia intervention.

For parents navigating dyslexia identification and IEP advocacy in Kansas, the Kansas IEP & 504 Advocacy Playbook at specialedstartguide.com/us/kansas/advocacy/ includes evaluation request templates, IEP goal frameworks, and KSDE complaint guides built around the specific intersection of dyslexia and Kansas special education law.

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