Title: William Kritsonis, School Law, Ch 3 Least Restrictive
1Special Education Least Restrictive
Environment
- Promoting School Success for your Child with a
Disability - William Allan Kritsonis, PhD
2Today you will learn more about
- What the law says about the least restrictive
- environment (LRE)
- The PJ Settlement Agreement
- Supplementary aids and services and
- How to address fears parents have about including
students with disabilities in general education
classrooms.
3Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA
04)
- 1975- Education of All Handicapped Children
- Act
- Reauthorized every five years
- Provides for a free appropriate public
- education (FAPE) for students with
disabilities - Last reauthorized in 2004
4No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
- Signed into law January 2002
- Improve outcomes for All Children
- Close the achievement gap between children with
or without disabilities - Emphasis on reading and using approaches that
have been proven to be effective - Ensure that teachers are highly qualified
5Individualized Education Program (IEP )
- The Individuals with Disabilities Education
Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA) aligns IDEA
closely to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB),
helping to ensure equity, accountability and
excellence in education for children with
disabilities.Note that IDEA 2004 is in effect
as of July 1, 2005, with the exception of the
Highly Qualified provision, which has been in
effect since the law's signing on December 3,
2004.On August 14, 2006, the official copy of
the final Part B regulations of the IDEA 2004 was
published in the Federal Register.
6Planning before Placement
- The next slide will give you the child's
placement (where the IEP will be carried out) and
must be decided. The placement decision is made
by a group of people, including the parents and
others who know about the child, what the
evaluation results mean, and what types of
placements are appropriate. In some states, the
IEP team serves as the group making the placement
decision. In other states, this decision may be
made by another group of people. In all cases,
the parents have the right to be members of the
group that decides the educational placement of
the child.
7Student
Parent
Attend Participate when ready Self-advocate
Attend Share visions priorities Ask questions
Share information Communicate to resolve
differences Acknowledge differences
Observe the child Review/monitor progress
Commit resources Follow procedural
safeguards Deliver services
Roles and responsibilities at the PPT
School
8Placement in the Least Restrictive Environment-
(LRE)
- The placement of students with disabilities
ages 3 through 21 in appropriate settings has
been an integral part of the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) since its
enactment. Three basic principles are included in
the federal mandates. These are - Placement is based on the student 's
individualized education program - Placement is in the least restrictive
environment and - A continuum of alternative placement options is
available to all students with disabilities.
9FACTORS
- First Factor requires that consideration be
given to a comparison of the benefits in the
regular class and the benefits in the special
class. In Daniel R. v. El Paso Independent School
District, the United States Court of Appeals for
the Fifth Circuit determined that the
appropriateness of placement in the regular
classroom is not dependent on the student's
ability to learn the same things that other
students learn in the regular classroom. The
benefit from social interaction of the student
with nondisabled peers is a legitimate benefit
that can be derived from placement in the regular
classroom. - Second factor requires that consideration be
given to the potentially beneficial or harmful
effects that placement in the regular classroom
may have on the student with educational
disabilities and the other children in the class.
Two examples of the many beneficial social and
academic effects that may accrue to a student
with disabilities include positive peer models
and high expectations for achievement. The
potentially beneficial effects on the other
children in the class are fostered as they learn
to understand and accept the individual
differences of their peers. Harmful effects may
include the disruptive behavior of a student with
disabilities if the disruptiveness is severe
enough to significantly impair the education of
other students. The school district must
demonstrate that full consideration has been
given to the complete range of supplementary aids
and services that could be provided to the
student to deal with the problem behaviors.
10Placement options include
- a regular classroom
- a regular classroom with modifications and/or
supplemental aids and services - a resource room for special education instruction
with instruction in a regular classroom - a classroom for children with disabilities
located in a regular school - day or residential special schools, where many or
all students may have disabilities and - a home, hospital, or institution based program
11The PJ Settlement Agreement
- P.J., et al v. State of Connecticut, Board of
Education, et al. was filed in 1991 on behalf of
five school-age children with mental retardation
and their families. The case was certified as a
class action lawsuit on December 13, 1993. The
court defined the class as all mentally retarded
school-aged children in Connecticut who have been
identified as needing special education and who.
. . are not educated in regular classrooms The
Settlement Agreement specifically includes
children with the label Intellectual
Disability. On May 22, 2002, a Settlement
Agreement was approved and 5 goals and outcomes
were determined. -
12The Five Goals of the PJ Settlement Agreement
- An increase in the percent of students with
mental retardation/intellectual disability who
are placed in regular classes. - A reduction in the disparate identification of
students with MR/ID by racial, ethnic or gender
group. - An increase in the percent of the school day that
students with MR/ID spend with non-disabled
students. - An increase in the percent of students who attend
their home school. - An increase in the percent of students with MR/ID
who participate in school-sponsored
extracurricular activities with non-disabled
peers.
13How Do You Address the Fears of Parents with
Disabilities in a Regular Classroom
- http//www.klschools.org/www/klsd/site/hosting/pub
lic_html/SPED/SPEDParentHandbook.pdf - The above link will give you a Special
Education Parent Handbook, which is a (47 page)
very interesting publication for a reference
guide. - http//www.coping.org/specialneeds/normaliz.ht
m - Tools for Parents of Children with
Disabilities and Special Needs
14References
- http//www.coping.org/specialneeds/normaliz.htm
- http//www.klschools.org/www/klsd/site/hosting/pub
lic_html/SPED/SPEDParentHandbook.pdf - Individuals with Disabilities Education
Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA) - No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)
- http//www.wrightslaw.com/info/lre.index.htm
- http//www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/articles/idea.lre.
fape.htm
15APPENDEX
- Some text books that might be of some help or
references to both the parent and schools are as
follows
16Case Studies
- Case law
- Board of Ed. of Hendrick Hudson Central School
Dist. v. Rowley 458 U.S. 176 (1982). First
decision in a special education case by the U. S.
Supreme Court defined "free appropriate public
education" in the least restrictive
environment.Carter v. Florence County, U. S.
Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit While
arguing that four months a year of progress in
reading was appropriate, the district also argued
that because Trident Academy was not on the
State's "approved" list, Shannon's parents should
not be reimbursed for the placement. The Court
discusses the mainstreaming policy and "least
restrictive environment". This ruling created a
"split" among circuits that opened the door to an
appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court in Florence
County School District Four v. Shannon Carter. - Hartmann v. Loudoun County, U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Fourth Circuit, inclusion and LRE for
child with autism (1997). L.B. and J.B. ex rel.
K.B. v. Nebo UT School District, U. S. Court of
Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Parents of child
with autism reimbursed for ABA therapy and
private preschool which was LRE also
impartiality of hearing officer. (August
2004)T. R. v. Kingwood Township (NJ) (3rd Cir.
2000) Clarifies requirement to provide a "free
appropriate education (FAPE)" in the "least
restrictive environment, meaningful benefit,
continuum of placements. Zachary Deal v.
Hamilton Dept of Educ (TN Due Process Decision
Aug 2001) Administrative law judge issues 45 page
decision after a 27-day due process hearing
finds procedural safeguards and LRE violations
substantive violations discusses credibility
problems with school witnesses re closed minds,
evasiveness.
17Conclusion
- This was a very interesting topic to do my
PowerPoint Presentation on and I found a lot of
information on the subject matter. I could go on
and on because there is so much to learn and
tell. I had the opportunity to teach as a
Special Education Associate in Des Moines, Iowa
many years ago and I learned a lot from that
experience. Now that I teach in the Aldine ISD
district, I am getting hands on experience as a
teacher on some of the issues and laws that are
associated with Special Education Least
Restrictive Environment. I have several students
on my class roster that I deal with it every day.
And I am learning new things everyday as well.
To me, the least restrictive environment is the
one that, to the greatest extent possible,
satisfactorily educates disabled children
together with children who are not disabled, in
the same school the disabled child would attend
if the child were not disabled."