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Ed. Code, § 56333 · Article 2.5. Eligibility Criteria for Special Education and Related Services on the Basis of Language and Speech Disorder or Specific Learning Disabilities

Ed. Code, § 56333

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)

A pupil shall be assessed as having a language or speech disorder that makes the pupil eligible for special education and related services when the pupil demonstrates difficulty understanding or using language to such an extent that it adversely affects the pupil’s educational performance and cannot be corrected without special education and related services. In order to be eligible for special education and related services, difficulty in understanding or using language shall be assessed by a speech-language pathologist who determines that such difficulty results from any of the following disorders:

(a) Speech sound disorder, characterized by deficits in the pupil’s production of speech sounds that significantly interferes with communication and attracts adverse attention.

(b) Voice disorder, characterized by persistent, deficits in voice quality, pitch, intensity, or resonance. A medical examination shall be conducted, where appropriate.

(c) Fluency disorder, characterized by persistent deficits in the flow of verbal expression to such a degree that these difficulties adversely affect communication between the pupil and listener.

(d) Language disorder, characterized by inappropriate or inadequate acquisition, comprehension, or expression of language such that the pupil’s language performance level is found to be significantly below the language performance level of the pupil’s peers.

(e) Hearing impairment or deafness that contributes to or results in a language or speech disorder and significantly affects educational performance.

Notes and commentary — not statutory text

History

Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 666, Sec. 99. (AB 486) Effective January 1, 2022.

Source of truth

Edition
As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
Official file
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=EDC&sectionNum=56333.
Text hash
sha256 c18844b45dcc3de37820ac72d5062c918b516dcebef93ef4993600787b0a60fa
Composed by
compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section

Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.