Special Education Questions

Section Seven - What is "Least Restrictive Environment"?

7. What is "Least Restrictive Environment"?

The Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) requirement is the requirement that special education students be educated with children without disabilities in the regular educational environment to the maximum extent appropriate to serve their needs.

The IDEA states that, "To the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, including children in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are (1) educated with children who are not disabled, and (2) special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the disability of a child is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily." 20 U.S.C. § 1412(a)(5). Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act also requires that children be educated in the LRE.

These LRE provisions mean that if children can be educated successfully in the regular classroom with support they should be educated there. They do not mean that children with disabilities must learn the same things as other children in the classroom. A child with Down Syndrome, for example, may learn how to get along with other children and develop his or her verbal skills in the regular classroom, although he or she will not learn to read at the same pace. It also does not mean that a child must be able to succeed in the regular classroom without any supports. Instead, except for very severely disabled children school districts have an obligation to provide all reasonable supplemental aids and services to children in the regular classroom setting before determining that they cannot be successfully educated there.

How can a child with disabilities be accommodated in a general education classroom?

The IDEA requires that a student with a disability be provided with "supplementary aids and services” as needed to enable him or her to succeed in the LRE. “Supplementary aids and services” can include any additional service, personnel equipment, or accommodation provided to a special education student. They can include, for example, small group tutoring by special education teachers (resource room, now Special Education Teacher Support (SETS) ), modifications of lessons, curriculum modifications such as emphasis on visual and hands-on methods of teaching, training for regular education personnel, assistance of a consultant teacher with special education training, assistance from paraprofessionals, computer-assisted devices, the use of note-takers or tape-recorders, additional time for tests, or preferential seating. This list is not inclusive--each child is unique, and schools must be creative to appropriately implement the LRE requirement.

Will general education teachers be trained to address the needs of children with disabilities?

The law requires that general teachers and educational personnel receive appropriate training, technical assistance, and supports necessary to help them properly include students and help them achieve their academic and social goals. This must include comprehensive, specific, and on-going training in working with children with special needs. If a child with Asperger's Syndrome, for example, is being included in the general education classroom, the general education personnel should receive training and on-going consultation from an expert in Asperger's or autism regarding the specific issues faced by the child and the best techniques for including him or her appropriately.

What is the range of placements available for children with disabilities?

The law requires that each school district ensure that there is a "continuum of alternative placements" available to meet the needs of students with disabilities. Emphasis should be placed on the provision of services, and not the specific placements themselves. This "continuum" must include general education classes, self-contained special education classes, special schools, home instruction, and instruction in hospitals or institutions. This continuum of alternative services is designed to ensure that there is an appropriate setting for each child based on the child's specific needs. Factors that may be considered in determining placements include the educational benefits to the child with a disability, the non-academic and social benefits to the child, and the degree of disruption that the child will cause in the classroom. Factors, which may not be considered in determining placements, include the disabled child's category of disability, the severity of the disability, and the availability of placements or related services.

When should the placement decision be made?

Placement is generally the last in a series of decisions, and occurs only after a child’s evaluation and toward the end of a meeting of the Committee on Special Education (CSE). Any decision about a child's placement must be made after the goals and objectives on the Individual Education Program (IEP) are developed and written and its appropriate services have been determined. Placement must be based on the IEP goals and objectives; goals and objectives shouldn't be written to "fit" the placement.

What must be included on a student's IEP with regard to LRE?

The IDEA requires a student's IEP to address the least restrictive environment question. If a child will not participate fully with peers without disabilities, the IEP must include an explanation of why and to what extent the child will not be included. It must also address academic inclusion, by stating the child's present level of educational performance and the extent to which the student's disability affects involvement and progress in the general curriculum. The IEP must also include a description of the other programs considered and rejected for the child.

When should a child be removed from a general education class to a special class or separate school?

Under the IDEA, a child may only be removed from general education when "the nature and severity of the disability” does not allow the child to be satisfactorily educated in general education classes, even with the use of supplementary aids and services. The regular education classroom with supports and services must always be the first setting considered. If rejected, the team must move up the continuum from least to more restrictive settings. Each time an educational setting is rejected, an explanation of why it was rejected should be included in the IEP. Although this explanation is necessary, however, it is not sufficient to show that the school district has appropriately considered the LRE.

How does LRE apply to children with behavior problems?

A large number of referrals to special education are of students with behavior problems that teachers no longer want in their classes. According to the United States Department of Education, a child whose behavior is so disruptive in a general education classroom that the education of other students is significantly impaired may be removed from that setting. Even for children with serious behavior problems, however, removal can occur only after the school has seriously considered supplementary aids and services, including training to personnel teaching the child, and tried to accommodate the child with use of supplementary aids or additional staff such as consultant teachers and paraprofessionals.

Before removing a child due to behavior problems, moreover, a child must be given a "functional behavior assessment" (FBA) based on objective observations of the child to determine why and how often the child is engaging in the negative behaviors, and what are positive reinforcers for the child. This FBA should be used to develop a positive "behavior intervention plan" (BIP) to use positive reinforcements to help the child learn to control and modify his or her negative behavior. For guidance on Functional Behavior Assessments, see the NYSED's information on the subject.

What is inclusion and how does it relate to LRE?

The Least Restrictive Environment requirement is the legal basis for inclusion programs because inclusion is a means of educating students in a general education classroom to the maximum extent appropriate based on individual needs. The term "inclusion" is not used in IDEA and the Department of Education has not defined the term. However, inclusion is generally accepted to mean that primary instruction and provision of services for a child with a disability is provided in an age-appropriate general education class in the school the child would have attended if not disabled with appropriate additional supports for the student and the teacher. It may, under NYC's New Continuum of services, consist of placement in general education with related services with SETS, or in a Collaborative Team Teaching classroom. This does not mean that a child with a disability cannot move to other settings for support services such as speech or physical therapy, or that a child must be fully included. There may also be partial inclusion, in which a child may also remain in the segregated setting for some parts of the day and enter into general education settings for other specific time periods.

What is mainstreaming and how does it relate to LRE?

While mainstreaming and inclusion are related, they are in fact quite different. In mainstreaming, as in partial inclusion discussed above, a child with a disability’s "home classroom" is a special education classroom but she spends part of her day learning side by side with her general education peers. In mainstreaming the child is usually expected to keep up with the rest of the class without significant supplementary aids and services.

continue to Section Eight on Private School.

back to Special Education - Frequently Asked Questions