Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)

The idea that children should be educated in the least restrictive environment, means different things for different children. For some, it can mean being part of a regular classroom, for others it can be a self-contained class in their home school, and for still others it can mean a public or private school which only serves children with specialized needs. An explanation of Least Restrictive Environment and how it relates to “inclusion”, which is often used by schools in discussing class placement, appears on the Wrightslaw website.

When Congress reauthorized the IDEA in December, 2004, it noted that special education should be a service for children, not a place where children are sent. The IDEA states that “special education and related services, and aids and supports” should be provided in the regular classroom “whenever appropriate”: New York law has provided that “removal from the regular educational environment” is appropriate “only when the nature or severity of the disability is such that even with the use of supplementary aids and services, education cannot be satisfactorily achieved”.

As you consider the optimal setting for the services your child will receive, it is important to weigh the many advantages of a less restrictive setting – interaction with non-special education peers, opportunities for observing and learning social and other desirable behaviors, and the diverse population of a regular class setting -- with some of the inevitable drawbacks. These can include teasing or other stigmatization, and the noise and other distractions that come with a larger class. Less restrictive settings are usually preferable, but not for every child in every situation.