Least restrictive environment

According to IDEA, an individual with autism is someone with "a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age three, that adversely affects a child's educational performance." IDEA states that an individual who fits these characteristics can receive special education services if a student is exhibiting signs of autism after their third birthday. Characteristics associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder, or ASD fall within three categories: social interaction, behavior, and communication. Common symptoms include unusual fixations, specific routines, disruptive behavior, unusual communication habits, and difficulty understanding social interactions.[8]

In fall 2015, 39.7% of students ages 6-21 who had been diagnosed with autism spent 80% or more of their time in a general classroom. This is compared to 63.9% of students with a developmental delay or 47% with emotional disturbance.[9]

According to IDEA, deaf-blindness is defined as “concomitant [simultaneous] hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or children with blindness.”[10]

The least restrictive environment clause states that students should be able to be educated in an environment with "non-disabled peers." However in the case of Deaf students there are many cases where a mainstream classroom may not be the most inclusive, or least restrictive, environment.

Some accommodations can be made to make a mainstream school more appropriate for a deaf student, such as interpreters, a Deaf program within a mainstream school with Deaf peers and language models present, or CART services. However, these are not always successful for every deaf student. Deaf residential and day schools provide certain benefits that the typical LRE would not hold, such as placing Deaf students into classrooms with kids their own age and amount of hearing loss, and with staff that are certified to work the deaf, to facilitate social interaction. Deaf schools also may have specialized education equipment and extracurricular activities that are made communicably accessible to the Deaf to help promote growth emotionally and cognitively.[11]

Studies that have shown that the typical inclusion model for the Deaf has some benefits. One study found that a classroom with both hearing and Deaf and hard of hearing students actually helped improved signing development for the Deaf. It also showed improvement in certain testing scores such as reading vocabulary/comprehension and solving math problems.[12] Additionally, within the IDEA there is a subsection describing alternative appropriate school placements. Within this section special schools are included.[13]

The NAD (National Association of the Deaf) believes that the least restrictive environment for the Deaf is an environment that promotes a student's social, cognitive and emotional development with the least amount of communication and language barriers.[14] The NAD supports placement of Deaf and Hard of Hearing students in the standard education setting if the placement decision made was based on thorough evaluation of the student and their needs. They believe that the placement and resources provided for the student should be based on communication and that the IEP team making the decision should be fully educated on the issues related to sign language and the needs of the Deaf population.[14]

According to IDEA, a hearing Impairment is “an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance but is not included under the definition of ‘deafness.'”[15]

According to IDEA, an intellectual disability is defined as “significantly sub-average general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently [at the same time] with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.” [16]

According to IDEA, multiple disabilities is defined as a“concomitant [simultaneous] impairments (such as intellectual disability-blindness, intellectual disability-orthopedic impairment, etc.), the combination of which causes such severe educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in a special education program solely for one of the impairments. The term does not include deaf-blindness.”[17]

According to IDEA, orthopedic impairments are defined as “a severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a child’s educational performance” this term includes "impairments caused by a congenital anomaly [birth defects], impairments caused by disease (e.g., poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis), and impairments from other causes (e.g., cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures or burns that cause contractures).”[18]

According to IDEA, other health impairments are defined as “having limited strength, vitality, or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli, that results in limited alertness with respect to the educational environment, that— (a) is due to chronic or acute health problems such as asthma, attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis [a kidney disorder], rheumatic fever, sickle cell anemia, and Tourette syndrome; and (b) adversely affects a child’s educational performance.”[19]

According to IDEA, a Specific Learning Disability (SLD) makes up the largest portion of students receiving services. The majority of students receiving services for specific learning disabilities are in mainstream classrooms.  

Common learning disabilities include dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, auditory and visual processing disorders, and nonverbal learning disabilities. Early intervention is valuable for all disability categories but given the high frequency of students with learning disabilities, it is even more valuable. 80% of students with a learning disability have trouble reading. 90% of students will read normally if they receive help by the first grade. 75% of students who receive help after the age of nine will have some difficulty throughout life.  

Accommodations and modifications for students with learning disabilities vary based on the specific kind of learning disability and on the individual and unique needs of the student. Some examples of creating the least restrictive environment for students with learning disabilities include providing an audio recording of instructions or passages, providing text with a larger font, reducing the word count per line of text, and having a designated reader to give the written directions aloud to the student. More examples include allowing verbal responses, having a scribe, using voice recording for responses, etc. Some students may need extended periods for exams, separate testing locations, having the notes in advance, notes only on paper in black and white, etc. Each specific learning disability is different, and each student has unique needs.[20]

IDEA defines a speech or language impairment as “a communication disorder, such as stuttering, impaired articulation, language impairment, or a voice impairment, that adversely affects a student’s educational performance”. School speech-language pathologists (SLP) must work with school evaluation teams to identify students who meet certain criteria prior to beginning services.[21]

School speech-language pathologists (SLP) must work with school evaluation teams to identify students who meet certain criteria prior to beginning services.The range and severity of students that meet such criteria has greatly expanded in recent years. In determining the least restrictive environment for a student with a speech or language impairment, it is important to consider the severity of their condition. While students with more severe impairments will benefit more from individualized services, IDEA regulates that students receiving speech-language services should be educated with their peers as much as possible. This often consists of the SLP working in the general classroom with the student and the help of the general education teacher. It needs to be ensured by the SLP that the student is simultaneously meeting individualized needs while in the general classroom. As mentioned previously, students with more severe impairments may still benefit more from individualized services outside of the general classroom. Small group meetings with an SLP outside of the general classroom can also be beneficial for those with similar impairments or needs. Regardless of the environment, a student’s IEP must always be addressed while working toward progress in the general curriculum.[22]

According to IDEA, traumatic brain injuries are defined as "an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.”[23]

According to IDEA, visual imparments including blindness are defined as “an impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness.”[24]