Least Restrictive Environment Doesn't Mean Anything Goes
In this video, Dr. Justin Baeder clarifies that the legal standard of 'least restrictive environment' doesn't mean placing every student in general education regardless of outcome.
Key Takeaways
- LRE has to work - The least restrictive environment must actually support the student's learning, or it's the wrong placement
- Anything goes isn't LRE - Placing a student in gen ed where they can't learn isn't providing the least restrictive environment; it's providing the wrong environment
- Change the placement when it's not working - If a student isn't learning or is unsafe, the IEP team must consider a different setting
Transcript
So least restrictive environment is a really important concept for thinking about appropriate placement of students with IEPs, especially students who have demonstrated violent behavior.
And as we think about what to do about violent behavior, we have to keep in mind that students have the right to be educated in the least restrictive environment possible.
But that doesn't mean the least restrictive environment imaginable.
It means the least restrictive environment that will work.
And if things are not working, that environment can be changed because the student is demonstrating that they need a different environment, including one that possibly might be rated as more restrictive.
And a lot of students are even coming to gen ed classrooms with a one-on-one para, and that is not considered the least restrictive environment.
So I think this idea that all students have to spend all day in the regular classroom, no matter how extreme their behavior is, because that's the least restrictive environment, like that's not really an accurate interpretation of that concept from special ed law.
So when it comes to figuring out the best environment for a student who's struggling with violent behaviors, with outbursts, with throwing furniture, with injuring people, things like that, the IEP team really has to consider whether the least restrictive environment is in fact a more restrictive placement than they're currently in.
Because the reality is not all students are going to thrive in a stimulating, you know, classroom of 30 peers, you know, like it's just too much for some students.
And really critically, we can't just let the same things happen over and over again.
Like LRE was never intended.
IEPs were never intended to to force teachers to just tolerate violent behavior over and over and over again anytime there's an incident the iep team needs to to review that and reconsider the you know the supports that are in place and the behavior plan that's in place and consider the possibility that a different placement is needed so none of this is easy none of this is a you know kind of a simplistic solution But I do think we need to take it a lot more seriously that we can't just say, well, every student deserves to be in the mainstream classroom all day, no matter what, if students are demonstrating that they can't thrive and can't succeed there and can't keep everybody else safe there.