“How Can a Student with Severe Disabilities Be in a Fifth-Grade Class When He Can’t Do Fifth-Grade Level Work?” Misapplying the Least Restrictive Environment

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-27
Author(s):  
Michael F. Giangreco
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Least Restrictive Environment ◽  
Severe Disabilities ◽  
Fifth Grade ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Disabilities Education Act ◽  
Education Act ◽  
Students With Severe Disabilities ◽  
Restrictive Environment ◽  
Inclusive Schooling

This article briefly responds to the following question: Why aren’t more students with severe disabilities being placed in general education classrooms? I offer five reasons why more students with severe disabilities are not included, because: (a) ableism persists, (b) schools continue to misapply the least restrictive environment provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in placement determinations, (c) too many team members have difficulty conceptualizing curricular inclusion, (d) some professionals pit placement against instruction as an “either/or” proposition, and (e) typical approaches to systems change leave behind students with severe disabilities. The article calls on the field to continue and speed the change process so that more students can benefit sooner from inclusive schooling.

Who Are the Classmates of Students With Disabilities in Elementary Mathematics Classrooms?

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison F. Gilmour ◽  
Gary T. Henry
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Least Restrictive Environment ◽  
Fifth Grade ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Students With Learning Disabilities ◽  
Mathematics Classrooms ◽  
Disabilities Education Act ◽  
Education Act ◽  
Restrictive Environment

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act stresses the importance of educating students with disabilities (SWDs) in the least restrictive environment, often with peers who do not have disabilities. Prior research has examined the extent to which SWDs are included in general education classrooms, but not the characteristics of the peers with whom SWDs are educated. We examined the math classmates of fourth- and fifth-grade SWDs from one state. On average, SWDs were grouped with twice as many other SWDs, about four per class, than students without disabilities. Students with learning disabilities had fewer peers with disabilities in their classrooms than students with other disabilities. Students with intellectual disabilities, autism, or emotional/behavioral disorders more often had peers with disabilities, often their same disability. Our results provide directions for future research regarding peer effects and understanding how schools group SWDs.

The Foundation of Inclusion in Federal Legislation and Litigation

2017 ◽  
pp. 27-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitchell L. Yell ◽  
Christine A. Christle
Keyword(s):  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Least Restrictive Environment ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Student Placement ◽  
Placement Decisions ◽  
Disabilities Education Act ◽  
Federal Mandate ◽  
Education Act ◽  
Restrictive Environment ◽  
Historical Antecedents

The foundation of inclusion in special education law is the least restrictive environment (LRE) mandate of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This federal mandate requires that all students with disabilities receive their education with students without disabilities to the maximum extent appropriate. Our purpose in this chapter is to examine the legal basis of inclusion. We first review the historical antecedents of inclusion. Second, we examine the LRE mandate and the student placement requirements of the IDEA. Third, we survey the most important case law rulings regarding LRE and the placement of students with disabilities. Fourth, we consider strategies that have been used to promote inclusive placements and briefly review the literature on these strategies. We end this chapter by offering principles to guide IEP team members in making educationally beneficial and legally correct placement decisions for students with disabilities.

scholarly journals Status of Inclusive Educational Placement for Students With Extensive and Pervasive Support Needs

Inclusion ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary E. Morningstar ◽  
Jennifer A. Kurth
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Support Needs ◽  
Educational Placement ◽  
General Education Curriculum ◽  
Disabilities Education Act ◽  
Policies And Procedures ◽  
Education Act ◽  
Restrictive Environment

Abstract Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2004 established procedural mandates and accountability requirements ensuring all students with disabilities participate and progress in general education curriculum. Broadly speaking, improvements toward greater access have been found for many students with disabilities; however, the extent to which this holds true for students with extensive and pervasive support needs is not evident. Past research associated with least restrictive environment (LRE) for students with extensive and pervasive support needs was considered when replicating previous research using the cumulative placement rate to analyze LRE data for students with extensive and pervasive support needs (autism, intellectual disability, deaf blindness, and multiple disabilities). Results indicate that student with extensive and pervasive support needs have substantially less positive LRE placement trends over the past 15 years with most placed in separate classrooms and settings. Recommendations for transforming federal and state policies and procedures are shared.

Including Students with Severe Disabilities in Music Classrooms

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 23-25
Author(s):  
Ellary A. Draper
Keyword(s):  
Physical Education ◽  
Severe Disabilities ◽  
Neighborhood Schools ◽  
Individuals With Disabilities ◽  
Disabilities Education Act ◽  
Education Act ◽  
Students With Severe Disabilities ◽  
Music Classrooms

Since the passing of what we now call the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, students who were previously educated in separate facilities or campuses are now educated in their neighborhood schools. Even though students with severe disabilities are now in their neighborhood schools, many spend the majority of their day in separate classrooms. When they are not in separate classrooms, it is possible students with severe disabilities are participating in art, physical education, and music classes alongside their same-aged peers.

Instructional Costs of Inclusive Schooling

1994 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 215-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Salisbury ◽  
Arthur Chambers
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
General Education ◽  
Severe Disabilities ◽  
Professional Staff ◽  
Archival Data ◽  
Related Services ◽  
Annual Basis ◽  
Students With Severe Disabilities ◽  
Schooling Practices ◽  
Inclusive Schooling

Relatively little is known about the relative costs of inclusion, particularly as they compare to more prevalent self-contained and/or segregated out-of-district placement options. This investigation was conducted to report longitudinal cost data associated with one district's evolution toward more inclusive schooling practices. Results of archival data analysis revealed: (a) that District costs were significantly less on an annual basis relative to comparable costs for out-of-district services; (b) a significant increase in the number of students with severe disabilities over the 5-year period, with District costs still well below that of out-of-district services; (c) a doubling in contractual (related services) costs over the 5-year period, linked most directly to the dramatic increase in the number of students with more intensive needs; and (d) a significant increase in the number of and reliance on para-professional staff for supporting classified and nonclassified students in general education.

Home as the Least Restrictive Environment for Students with Medical Disabilities

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-286
Author(s):  
Benjamin C. Lustig
Keyword(s):  
School Leaders ◽  
Least Restrictive Environment ◽  
Educational Services ◽  
Individual Education Program ◽  
Disabilities Education Act ◽  
School Programs ◽  
Education Act ◽  
Restrictive Environment ◽  
Instructional Services ◽  
Individual Education

School leaders have a prominent role on Individual Education Program (IEP) teams and often face very challenging obstacles when determining substantive educational services and placement in the least restrictive environment (LRE) for students with medical disabilities. In absence of federal statutory and regulatory policy, standard legal research methodology was used to determine whether explicit and implicit recommendations existed for school leaders elsewhere in the law for the use of homebound placements for students with medical disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Homebound instructional services can be an LRE because educational services are provided to students who would be unable to attend school programs and activities.

scholarly journals The Effect of “Measurable and Rigorous” State Performance Goals for Addressing “Free and Appropriate Public Education Within the Least Restrictive Environment”

Inclusion ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Marks ◽  
Jennifer Kurth ◽  
Jody Pirtle
Keyword(s):  
Least Restrictive Environment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Special Education Services ◽  
Performance Targets ◽  
Disabilities Education Act ◽  
Southwest Region ◽  
Education Act ◽  
Restrictive Environment ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Sections 616 and 642 of the 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) required states to develop a State Performance Plan (SPP) to (a) evaluate their efforts in implementing the requirements of IDEA and (b) describe their plan for implementation of IDEA through determination of “measurable and rigorous” goals. In this article, we examine the performance targets proposed by states within the Southwest region of the United States to examine the impact that SPP targets have had on actual changes in practice focused on Indicator 5. Indicator 5 focuses on increasing the provision of special education services in the least restrictive environment (LRE). Our analysis found that actual changes on LRE measures were unaffected by SPP targets.

Development and Social Competence after Two Years for Students Enrolled in Inclusive and Self-Contained Educational Programs

2002 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 165-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Fisher ◽  
Luanna H. Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Social Competence ◽  
General Education ◽  
Severe Disabilities ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Group Affiliation ◽  
Inclusive Settings ◽  
Services And Supports ◽  
Students With Severe Disabilities ◽  
Independent Behavior ◽  
Inclusive Schooling

Inclusive programs increasingly have become available for students with severe disabilities, enabling them to receive special education services and supports in general education classes alongside their non-disabled peers. Forty students in two groups were assessed across two years of inclusive versus self-contained educational programming, comparing outcomes on measures of child development and social competence with the Scales of Independent Behavior (SIB) and the Assessment of Social Competence (ASC). Participants were assessed on the SIB and ASC, matched into pairs on chronological age and SIB total scores at first testing, and reassessed after two additional years of either inclusive or self-contained schooling. The inclusive student group made statistically significant gains on the developmental measure and realized higher social competence scores in comparison to the self-contained group at follow-up. Examination of gains on these measures irrespective of group affiliation indicated that participants made small, but significant, gains in two of four skill clusters assessed by the SIB and three of eleven dimensions of the ASC. These results challenge a common assumption that selfcontained settings in comparison to inclusive settings will result in superior gains on students' IEP-related skill domains. They also support previous research showing social competence gains as a function of inclusion. Results are discussed in terms of expected change over time for students with severe disabilities, the implications of variations from the group results that occurred for individual students, and future research needed on the outcomes of quality inclusive schooling for students with severe disabilities.

Under the Law

2018 ◽  
Vol 100 (3) ◽  
pp. 66-67
Author(s):  
Julie Underwood
Keyword(s):  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Grade Level ◽  
Regular Education ◽  
Least Restrictive Environment ◽  
Academic Progress ◽  
Department Of Education ◽  
Disabilities Education Act ◽  
Education Act ◽  
Restrictive Environment ◽  
Circuit Courts

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that students with disabilities be educated in the least restrictive environment, meaning the environment that is as close as possible to that of a regular education classroom. However, the nation’s various circuit courts have used different standards to determine whether a particular placement meets this requirement. Julie Underwood summarizes a recent Sixth Circuit case, L.H. v. Hamilton County Department of Education, in which the court ruled that it was inappropriate for a district to remove a child with Down syndrome from a regular classroom, where he was making academic progress but not achieving the grade-level standard.

Model vs. Continuum

2015 ◽  
pp. 50-68
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Least Restrictive Environment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Court Cases ◽  
Educational Placement ◽  
Circuit Court ◽  
Disabilities Education Act ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Education Act ◽  
Restrictive Environment

This chapter focuses on the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE), as it is one of the most controversial and litigated topics in the field of special education, because the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act does not provide any guidelines on how this requirement needs to be met. Since the Supreme Court of the United States will not hear a case about LRE, this chapter also presents several circuit court cases that have attempted to interpret the law using an assessment they developed. In addition, the chapter reviews several continuum models that attempt to ease the burden for schools and their districts as they contemplate the best educational placement for a student with exceptionalities. The chapter concludes with a discussion about the future trends for special education and LRE.

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