Least Restrictive Environment

Least Restrictive Environment
- Inclusion and LRE- Brown v. Board of Education was the decision with justified students with disabilities to be educated within a LRE of other non-disabled peers. The paternalistic attitudes were to be set aside because students should benefit from an appropriate education to the maximum extent. This fallacy along with many others are not to prevent students from receiving an appropriate education in the general education classroom. From this outlook, inclusion is to be more than just academics, it should also be about acceptance.
- Part B Requirements- The LEA is to determine if the student is eligible for special education services after a nondiscriminatory evaluation is completed and the results and the child’s benefit from learning in the general education classroom. This section also identifies the mix-and-match approach to provide and continuum of services for the student. The IEP is to be evaluated annually to revise placement when goals are being addressed. The appropriateness of supplementary aids and services are to be provided to these students because Congress has found these students can be more appropriately educated with the general education curriculum.
- Part C Requirements- Early intervention services are to provided infants and toddlers to enhance their development. The placement should include most inclusive to the least inclusive within this continuum. The natural environment mandate provides two placements the home and an integrated-childcare facility.

What Does a Principal Need to Know About Placement?
- Types of Inclusion- Inclusive practices in schools have differing opinions and perceptions for those involved. The definition although constantly evolving is a term used by educators to describe the educational placement of students with disabilities in classrooms alongside their non-disabled peers (86). In the 1970s and 1980s mainstreaming was a term given to students who spent part of their day in the general education classroom. Full inclusion meant students stayed in the classroom and special services came to them.
- Legislation- PL94-142 Before this law as enacted many students did not receive an education and were excluded from being educated in the general education classroom. Providing students with an appropriate education in LRE was part of the law’s intentions. Federal law required that disabled students be educated in the general education classroom but did not require inclusion.
- Implementing and Supporting Inclusion- There are many ways principals and help encourage full-inclusion in classrooms. Many of these ways include teacher education. Support staff should also be an inclusive setting to help with supplementary aids and services. Planning and providing training to special education teachers and general education teachers can help demonstrate commitment. Setting aside time for these can benefit the school.

Within the school environment, all students should have advocates for their learning. Principals can help make sure students are provided with an appropriate education in the general education classroom by implementing and supporting inclusion from PL94-142. This can be through professional development and setting aside time for teachers to work together to collaborate on what is best for the students. There are different types of inclusion principals and teachers can implement in their schools. Mainstreaming and full inclusion are two different options. Today, these placements are known and pull-out and push-in. When thinking about placement, the LRE should be considered. After a nondiscriminatory evaluation is given to the student, the student is then placement is considered through a continuum of services. The information obtained must provide information related to enabling the child to be involved in and progress in the general education curriculum. These services should start with the mind frame of being in the classroom and then move to more restrictive from there. There are many fallacies that have attached themselves to LRE and the main fallacy is that students with disabilities cannot learn. Congress has debunked these fallacies through evidence-based research and has concluded that students learn in the general education classroom and benefit from the general education curriculum. After all, special education is a service and not a place where students are sent (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1400(c)(5)(C)).

Bateman, D. F., & Bateman, C. F. (2014). A principal's guide to special education (pp. 85-97). Arlington, VA: Council for Exceptional Children.
Turnbull, H. R., Stowe, M., & Huerta, N. (2007). Free appropriate public education: The law and children with disabilities. Denver, CO: Love Publishing Company.