This article focuses on the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) and ensures your learner is in the most appropriate setting to access support and special education services. Disability, diagnosis, or eligibility category do not determine LRE; your child’s individual needs determine it. This distinction is crucial, as districts may try to place your child based on their category rather than their unique requirements.
Least Restrictive Environment Key Definitions
Before exploring LRE, let’s start with the key definitions you need to know.
- Appropriate – per IDEA, this term means to provide educational benefits to students with disabilities.
- General education setting: This is a classroom setting with both disabled and non-disabled learners, including those on 504s, IEPs, or without any special education or accommodations.
- Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) – Federal law requires schools to educate students with disabilities alongside their nondisabled peers to the greatest extent appropriate. The school may only remove special education students from regular classes if, even with additional aids and services, they cannot achieve their education satisfactorily in such settings.
- Supplementary Aids and Services are supports that help students with disabilities participate in the general education setting and other settings.
What does The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) say about LRE?
Per IDEA, Section 300.114 States:
(2) Each public agency must ensure that:
- To the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, including children in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with children who are nondisabled.
- Special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only if the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes using supplementary aids and services is unsuitable.
What Does This Mean?
- Your military-connected child, with an IEP, should be with non-disabled kids in general education to the “maximum extent that is appropriate.”
- Special classes, separate schools, or removal from the general education classroom should only occur if your military-connected child’s IDEA-classified disability is so severe that appropriate education cannot be provided with supplementary aids and services in the general education setting.
What Can the Least Restrictive Environment Look Like?
Being in the military and navigating your learner’s special education placement can feel daunting. Different states use different terms, and going from a DODEA school to a county school can involve different terms. Let’s talk about different scenarios your learner could be in instead.
- General Education Classroom with support – Learner receives all their services inside the general education classroom. This means any special education or related services (OT, PT, Speech, etc.) are provided inside the classroom. Most schools will call this push-in services because the service provider is pushing into the general education classroom.
- General Education Classroom and Special Education Classroom – Learners spend part of their day in a general education class and then receive individual or small group instruction in a special education classroom or are pulled out of class for some services, typically called “pull out services.”
- Special Education/Resource Room – A learner is in a specialized classroom designed for students with similar needs, whether social-emotional, cognitive, or intellectual.
- Co-taught Classroom – The learner is in a classroom with a general education and a special education teacher. The general education teacher leads whole-group instruction, while the special education teacher provides specially designed instruction and support to students with special needs. This setup is more common in middle and high schools.
- Specialized program outside of the school district – This occurs when the IEP team determines that the learner requires placement in a private school, charter school, residential program, hospital program, or homebound services to access an appropriate education.
Understanding the Least Restrictive Environment in Classroom Definitions
States vary in their definitions of types of classrooms since they do not currently standardize them. For example, Virginia refers to co-taught classrooms as inclusion classrooms. Inclusion classrooms are also used to describe general education classrooms that include both students with and without disabilities. People also use regular classrooms and general education classrooms interchangeably.
Understanding the Least Restrictive Environment: PiP’s Collaboration
Partners in PROMISE is proud to join the Council for Exceptional Children and other community stakeholders to create a dictionary/glossary that will help establish a common language between state special education departments. In the meantime, please ask questions about your learner’s IEP team if you are unsure what the LRE definitions are for their school.
Advocating for the Least Restrictive Environment: Ensuring Inclusive Education for Your Learner
A least restrictive environment places your learner alongside non-disabled peers to promote interaction and engagement. LRE aims to ensure that your learner learns alongside non-disabled peers, promoting interaction and engagement. This may begin with activities like lunch, recess, and specials, gradually including academics. You may need to advocate for this at each duty station, so always refer the district and school team back to IDEA’s definition.
About the Author – Dr. Destiny Huff
Dr. Destiny Huff, LPC, is a late-diagnosed autistic-ADHD military spouse and mother of two neurodivergent children. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Certified Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapist, and non-attorney special education advocate who owns HRG Counseling & Supervision, LLC and Destiny Huff Consulting, LLC.
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