Question

What should be taken into consideration when determining Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) and Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) for a student?

?

Answer 1

• The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that students with disabilities be educated with peers without disabilities “to the maximum extent appropriate.” When the individualized education program (IEP) team is reviewing the student's current performance, establishing the student's goals, and determining the services that the student will require, they must also identify the least restrictive environment (LRE) in which these services can be provided.
• Under this act it is required that all students receive a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE), and includes that these students should be educated in the least restrictive environment (LRE) . The least restrictive environment clause states that students with disabilities should be educated with students without disabilities to the maximum appropriate extent.
• If a student should require supplementary aids and services necessary (such as an interpreter, resource room or itinerant teacher) to achieve educational goals while being placed in a classroom with students without disabilities, they should be provided as needed.
• To determine what an appropriate setting is for a student, an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) team will review the student’s strengths, weaknesses, and needs, and consider the educational benefits from placement in any particular educational setting.
• It is the IEP team's responsibility to determine what environment is the LRE for any given student with disabilities, which varies between every student.
• Four factors were identified as things needed to be taken into consideration when determining if the student’s LRE is appropriate. They are as follows-
• the educational benefits of integrated settings versus segregated settings,
• nonacademic benefits (primarily social interaction with non-disabled peers),
• the effect the student with a disability can have on the teacher and their peers, and
• the cost of supplementary services that will be required for that student to stay in the integrated setting
• The "free" public education means educational services must be provided at public expense, under public supervision and direction, and without charge to parents except for fees that are charged for all students.