LEAST RESTRICTIVE ENVIRONMENT (LRE)

What is the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) requirement as related to IDEA?

What is the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) requirement as related to IDEA? Why can this be such a divisive issue?

Abstract

The current trend of Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) requirement standardized testing can be both a blessing and a curse to today's school systems and students. The repercussions felt by the outcomes of these tests often determine the financial well being of school districts, the careers of educators and the academic future of the students who take them. One might want to pose the following question: should so much be riding on standardized testing and are these tests accurate indicators of a school and/or a student's performance? Standardized testing in the United States has been performed for at least a century.

Introduction

One of the key requirements of educating children with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is the least restrictive environment mandate (LRE), which states:

To the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities . . .are educated with children who are not disabled, and 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 [Sec. 612 (a)(5)(A)].

Discussion

Interpretations of the meaning of least restrictive environment vary in special education, ranging from those which view the regular education classroom in a student's neighborhood school as always the least restrictive environment for all students, to those which advocate for a full continuum of program placements (Crockett & Kauffman, 1999). There are many in special education who promote full inclusion as the placement option of choice. Those involved in education of children with visual impairments do not feel that any one placement is necessarily the only placement appropriate to meet the needs of all students with visual impairments.

Educational Needs of Students with Visual Impairments

Students with visual impairments have unique educational needs that may vary according to individual characteristics. The nature of a visual impairment is such that it creates severe challenges to learning that may be summarized as the need:

To learn through alternative and/or additional sensory channels such as touch and sound (Koenig & Holbrook, 1995);

For direct instruction in skills that others learn incidentally through observation and modeling (Koenig & Holbrook, 2000);

For materials that are adapted to provide equal access to the core curriculum through alternate sensory modalities (Castellano, 2005; Corn, Hatlen, Huebner, Ryan, & Siller, 1995; Holbrook & Koenig, 2000; Huebner, Merk-Adam, Stryker, & Wolffe, 2004);

For assessment and instruction in the expanded core curriculum (Corn, et al., 1995; Hatlen, 2004b; Huebner, et al., 2004);(

For specialized equipment to permit access to the curriculum through alternate sensory modalities (Kapperman & Sticken, 2000);

For individualized instruction in specialized skills when group instruction may not be appropriate (Koenig & Holbrook, 2000):

Despite these common needs, students with visual impairments constitute a heterogeneous ...