Florida Dyslexia Law: Technology Accommodations with LucidRead
Last updated: February 2026
Decoding Dyslexia Florida
This guide exists because of Decoding Dyslexia Florida. Founded approximately 2012–2013 as part of the national Decoding Dyslexia parent advocacy movement, DD Florida helped advance the 2016 and 2017 legislation (HB 7029, HB 7069) mandating scientifically-based screening, remediation, and teacher training across all Florida school districts.
That legislative victory created the mandate. This guide bridges that mandate to the technology accommodations that make compliance achievable. The law tells districts what to do. LucidRead provides a concrete, free, evidence-based answer to how.
The Law: Florida Statute §1008.25
Florida mandates K–3 screening with some of the strictest intervention timelines in the nation. Schools may not wait for a grading period to end before providing interventions.
Florida Statute §1008.25 — “Public school student progression; coordinated screening and progress monitoring” — along with HB 7029 (2016) and HB 7069 (2017), creates one of the most rigorous early reading intervention frameworks in the country. The Just Read, Florida! statewide literacy initiative administered by FLDOE provides the operational framework for implementation.
Key Requirements
- K–3 coordinated screening and progress monitoring
- Immediate intensive, explicit, systematic, and multisensory reading interventions upon identification
- Dyslexia-specific interventions for students with characteristics of dyslexia
- Schools may NOT wait for a grading period or full evaluation before starting interventions
- Teacher certification renewals (from July 1, 2020) require 2 college credits or 40 in-service points in evidence-based dyslexia instruction
- Monthly written progress reports to parents
- Third grade retention: students must score Level 2+ on statewide ELA to be promoted to Grade 4
Implementation Timeline
2016
HB 7029 enacted dyslexia screening provisions.
2017
HB 7069 strengthened reading instruction requirements.
July 1, 2020
Teacher certification dyslexia training requirement begins.
Ongoing
Below 10th percentile (K–2) or 20th percentile (Grade 3) triggers mandatory intervention. CURRENT
Ongoing
Screening results shared with teachers within 1 week, parents within 2 weeks.
What Districts Must Do
- Screen all K–3 students using coordinated screening and progress monitoring
- Provide immediate intensive, explicit, systematic, and multisensory reading interventions upon identification
- Deliver dyslexia-specific interventions for students with characteristics of dyslexia
- Ensure teacher certification renewals include evidence-based dyslexia instruction training
- Provide monthly written progress reports to parents
- Document accommodations in IEPs or Individual Progress Monitoring Plans with specific names, types, frequency, and duration of evidence-based interventions
The Gap
Florida mandates screening and evidence-based interventions extensively, but does not specifically mandate particular assistive technology solutions or define a technology accommodation standard. The law focuses on instructional interventions (structured literacy) rather than technology-based accommodations.
2024 NAEP: Florida ranked 44th in Grade 8 reading; reading and math scores at their lowest in 20 years.
This matters because IEPs and Individual Progress Monitoring Plans require specific, named interventions — not generic references to “assistive technology.” A teacher cannot write “use text-to-speech” in a progress monitoring plan and satisfy the documentation requirements.
LucidRead eliminates the technology accommodation cost entirely: it is free, requires no accounts, and runs on the Chromebooks districts already own.
Three Core Deficits of Dyslexia
Dyslexia manifests through three interconnected deficits that affect reading performance. Effective technology accommodations must address each deficit specifically rather than treating dyslexia as a single, undifferentiated condition.
Decoding Difficulty
Difficulty mapping letters to sounds (grapheme-phoneme correspondence). Students struggle to break unfamiliar words into component parts, making fluent reading effortful and slow. This is the hallmark deficit of dyslexia, affecting approximately 80% of students identified with specific learning disabilities in reading.
Visual Stress
Perceptual interference when reading standard black-on-white text. Symptoms include letters appearing to move or swim, blurring, pattern glare, and headaches during sustained reading. Research estimates this affects 20% of the general population and a significantly higher proportion of dyslexic readers. Color overlays and tinted backgrounds have been shown to reduce these symptoms in controlled studies.
Tracking Loss
Difficulty following text sequentially across and down the page. Students lose their place, skip lines, re-read lines, or drift within paragraphs. This is distinct from eye-movement disorders and relates to visual-spatial processing demands during reading. Reading guides and line isolation tools directly address this deficit.
Evidence-Based Technology Accommodations
Each LucidRead feature maps to a specific dyslexic deficit. This is not a generic toolbar — every feature has a purpose grounded in reading research, and every feature can be named and documented in an IEP or Individual Progress Monitoring Plan.
For Decoding Difficulty
Syllables
Visually splits words into syllable boundaries using color-coding, helping students decode unfamiliar words by reducing them to manageable phonological units.
Morphemes
Highlights prefixes, roots, and suffixes in distinct colors, teaching structural word analysis and building vocabulary through pattern recognition.
Bionic Reading
Bolds the first portion of each word, guiding visual fixation to the most informative part and reducing decoding effort.
Picture Dictionary
Provides visual image definitions when students click unfamiliar words, supporting meaning-making for students who struggle with text-only definitions.
Text to Speech
Reads text aloud with synchronized word-by-word highlighting, providing an auditory model of fluent reading while the student tracks visually.
Simplify
Reduces complex sentence structures and vocabulary to grade-appropriate language, removing barriers to comprehension.
For Visual Stress
Color Overlays
Applies customizable color tints (cream, blue, yellow, green, pink) over the page, reducing pattern glare and visual discomfort.
Typography
Adjustable fonts (including Lexend, designed for readability), letter spacing, word spacing, line height, and text size to reduce crowding effects.
Dark Mode
Light-on-dark color scheme reducing overall luminance and eye strain.
High Contrast
High-contrast color modes improving text visibility without pattern glare.
Line Tracking
Alternating background colors on text lines, creating visual separation that reduces crowding between adjacent lines.
For Tracking Loss
Reading Ruler
Focus ruler or screen mask isolating the current line of text, preventing visual wandering.
Line Tracking
Colors alternating lines and highlights the active line, providing a continuous visual anchor.
Line Focus
Dims all text except the current 1, 3, or 5 lines, creating a strong focus zone.
Bionic Reading
Within-word bold anchoring creates a rhythmic visual pattern, making it easier to follow text left-to-right.
Progress Bar
Persistent position indicator providing macro-level orientation for sustained reading.
MTSS Tier Configuration
Michigan's MTSS framework organizes interventions into three tiers of increasing intensity. LucidRead features map directly to each tier, allowing teachers to configure the extension to match the student's current level of support.
Universal Supports
Non-stigmatizing settings that benefit all readers in the general education classroom.
- Reader Mode
- Typography (Lexend font, 1.6 line height)
- Progress Bar
- Paragraph Numbers
Targeted Supports
Moderate supports for students identified through dyslexia screening who need additional reading intervention.
- All Tier 1 features
- Color Overlay (cream or yellow)
- Reading Ruler
- Text-to-Speech with word highlighting
- Syllable breakdown
- Preset profile: Dyslexia Ease or Visual Stress
Intensive Supports
Full suite of individualized supports for students with identified dyslexia receiving intensive intervention.
- All Tier 2 features
- Bionic Reading
- Morpheme highlighting
- Line Focus (1-line mode)
- Picture Dictionary
- Custom saved profile
- Vocabulary Builder
- Cloze exercises for comprehension checks
IEP or Individual Progress Monitoring Plan Language Templates
Florida uses IEPs for IDEA-eligible students and Individual Progress Monitoring Plans for students with substantial reading deficiency who don't have IEPs. The following templates provide ready-to-use language that satisfies documentation requirements. Copy, customize the bracketed values, and paste directly into your district's IEP or Individual Progress Monitoring Plan form.
Text-to-Speech
Student will use LucidRead text-to-speech with word-level highlighting for [20/30] minutes daily during independent reading to support decoding fluency and listening comprehension. Progress will be monitored through teacher observation and reading level assessments [weekly/biweekly].
Visual Stress
Student will use LucidRead color overlay ([cream/yellow/blue]) and adjusted typography (Lexend font, [18]px, [2px] letter spacing) across all digital reading assignments to reduce visual stress and increase sustained reading duration.
Reading Tracking
Student will use LucidRead reading ruler and line focus features during sustained reading activities to support visual tracking, reduce line-skipping, and increase reading accuracy.
Comprehensive Dyslexia
Student will use LucidRead Chrome extension with the Dyslexia Ease profile applied across all digital reading platforms. Configuration includes: Lexend font at 18px, cream color overlay, reading ruler, line tracking, text-to-speech with word highlighting, and syllable breakdown. Teacher will review feature configuration and reading progress [weekly/biweekly] and adjust settings as documented.
Vocabulary and Comprehension
Student will use LucidRead dictionary, picture dictionary, and morpheme highlighting features during content-area reading to support word-level comprehension, vocabulary development, and structural analysis skills.
Teacher Monitoring
Effective documentation requires ongoing monitoring of the technology accommodations in use. LucidRead provides several tools that support this process.
Verifying Feature Configuration
Open the LucidRead side panel on the student's Chromebook to review the current configuration. The side panel displays every active feature, the current profile name, and all settings in plain language. This takes less than 30 seconds and provides an immediate snapshot of what the student is using.
Documenting Progress
- Record the specific profile name and active features at each progress monitoring checkpoint
- Note any adjustments made to settings, along with the rationale for each change
- Use the Text Stats feature to track the reading level of materials the student is engaging with
- Document Vocabulary Builder word lists as evidence of targeted word study and vocabulary acquisition
Preset Profiles
LucidRead includes preset profiles designed for common accommodation needs. These provide a starting configuration that teachers can then customize for individual students:
- Dyslexia Ease — Lexend font, cream overlay, reading ruler, syllable breakdown, text-to-speech with word highlighting
- ADHD Focus — Line focus, bionic reading, progress bar, reduced visual clutter
- Visual Stress — Color overlay, increased spacing, adjusted font size, line tracking
Classroom Assessment Tools
- Cloze Exercises — Generate fill-in-the-blank comprehension checks from any reading passage to verify understanding
- Vocabulary Builder — Track words the student looks up and studies, providing a record of targeted word learning
- Text Stats — Analyze the reading level, word count, and complexity of any text on screen
- Paragraph Numbers — Add visible paragraph numbers to any page for guided reading reference and classroom discussion
Deployment
LucidRead requires no accounts, collects no data, and is FERPA and COPPA compliant by design. There is nothing to configure on the privacy side — no data processing agreements, no student information systems to integrate, no vendor risk assessments required.
Individual Install
Teachers or students can install LucidRead directly from the Chrome Web Store. Installation takes less than 10 seconds. The extension works immediately with no setup, no account creation, and no configuration required.
District-Wide Deployment
IT administrators can force-install LucidRead across all managed Chromebooks using the Google Admin Console:
- Sign in to the Google Admin Console (admin.google.com)
- Navigate to Devices > Chrome > Apps & extensions
- Select the organizational unit (OU) for your target student or staff devices
- Click the + icon, search for LucidRead in the Chrome Web Store, and add it
- Set the installation policy to Force install and save
The extension will automatically install on all Chromebooks in the selected OU within minutes. No student interaction is required.
Privacy by Design
No Accounts
No student accounts, no teacher accounts, no admin accounts. LucidRead works the moment it is installed. Settings are stored locally on the device and never leave it.
No Data Collection
No analytics, no tracking, no telemetry. LucidRead does not phone home. There are no servers, no databases, and no third-party services. The extension operates entirely on the local device.
FERPA & COPPA Compliant
Because LucidRead collects no student data of any kind, it is compliant with FERPA, COPPA, and all state student privacy laws by design. No data processing agreement is required.
Cost
Free. No premium tiers, no subscriptions, no hidden costs. Every feature described in this guide is available to every student at no charge, today and permanently.
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