Rethinking current implentation of "Least Restrictive Environment" and "Inclusion"

Least Restrictive Environment
What is it?
The IDEA act prescribes into law that all US students have the right to a "free and appropriate education" in the "least restrictive environment" (LRE). This law specifies that "to the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, including children in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with children who are not disabled, and special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with 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]).


In short, this law states that special needs students are entitled to be included in a "normal" classroom, through the use of "supplementary aids" to enable them to keep pace with the non-disabled students, if at all possible. Supplementary aids and services vary widely depending on the needs of the child. It can be as simple as having a teacher's aid in the classroom to assist 6 or so students with learning difficulties to having a teacher's aid that is assigned to one student throughout the day in his/her regular education classes. Disabled students also have may access to a Speech, Occupational and/or Physical therapist on a regular basis. Additionally, disabled students are given access to a variety of technology-based assistive devices such as an iPad, iPod, laptop, special software and ergonomic devices, just to name a few.

Who decides what is satisfactory achievement?
In theory, parents, teachers and administrators work in harmony to ensure that disabled students are able to achieve their highest potential, in an environment that best suits their academic, social and emotional needs. In a perfect world, parents are realistic about their child's abilities and are willing to respect the input of those who see the child each day in the "normal classroom setting".

Unfortunately, we all know that perfect worlds don't exist. The truth is that a school has the burden of proving, usually after a series of problems and negative outcomes, that a student belongs outside of the "normal" classroom. While many parents are realistic about the needs of their child and the proper placement for them in the academic setting, some parents defy logic and push for services and placements that are both unrealistic and unfair to the disabled student. This is especially true of children with disorders that leave them academically on level, but socially or emotionally stunted (such as high functioning students with Autism, students with Bi-Polar Disorder, etc). In order to over-rule a parent's wishes, no matter how unrealistic, schools must allow the student to fail, even if multiple experts see the problems impending and advise otherwise, while putting non-disabled students at risk, to have the student placed in a non-traditional classroom.


How does this effect the disabled student?
A wrongly placed disabled student is put under immense stress.Depending on the disability, students suffer from a variety of negative consequences when misplaced into a regular education setting. The following are only a few of the negative impacts inflicted on wrongly placed special needs students

• Loss of self-esteem - I have witnessed complete personality changes in students who are misplaced. As the year goes forward, they can see the difference between their achievement and the achievement of others in the classroom. I have heard students refer to themselves as "stupid", "retarded" or "worthless" simply because they have been placed in an environment where the minimum expectations are beyond their reach.
• Anxiety and duress - A student who is overwhelmed by noises, motion and/or other stimuli can often be placed under extreme duress by the most simple classroom activities. Students who are given separate projects/assignments that accommodate their learning needs often do not understand that they are not responsible for the project given to the rest of the class. 
• Loss of educational opportunity - The most egregious effect of misplaced students is the loss of educational opportunity. While a student is struggling to comprehend objectives that will have no place in their future, they could be learning life skills such as social norms, hygiene, independent living skills, and/or IQ appropriate core academic objectives. 

Even with a teacher's aide dedicated to assisting the student, some disabled students are still unable to cope with the simplest demands of a standard classroom. The noise of a group project can send a student into a dangerous rage. Having a teacher gently redirect a student off task can incite an unforeseen rage, resulting in thrown desks, broken equipment and injured teachers or students. Because of the way the IDEA law is written, teachers are expected to make major changes to their classroom expectations, projects and assignments to accommodate the needs of disabled students, but sometimes, even major changes do not benefit the student.

How does this effect the non-disabled students?

• Students placed in a classroom with a misplaced special needs student are robbed of opportunities and learning experiences. In a classroom, teachers have limited time to meet objectives. When a teacher has a student or student(s) who are misplaced, he or she often spends much of their time trying to address the needs of the misplaced student, taking valuable time from other students. This also limits the amount of reinforcing assignments, as time becomes a pressing issue. Fun and engaging projects are often scrapped because of the misplaced student's potential negative reaction.
• In many cases, students are placed in danger. When disabled students are overwhelmed, frustrated or angry, they can resort to primal reactions to vent their frustrations. These primal reactions can result in harm or injury to students who directly or indirectly inflict the frustration or anger or students around those offenders. Peripheral students can also be injured in the crossfire of such a rage. When students of any ability level are concerned for their safety they do not retain information or focus on learning as they would in a stress-free zone. 
• Non-disabled students are often put in a position of being a peer-counselor to the misplaced disable student. This is a noble and seemingly win-win situation, IF the students are properly trained and supported by adults. Often, because of overcrowding and over a dozen special needs students being grouped into a room in addition to a misplaced special needs student, peer helpers are either not proficient enough to assist displaced students or lack the patience, knowledge and training to deal with a demanding student for whom they are somewhat responsible. This leads to not only the displaced students being further behind, but also placed duress on the peer tutor.

How does this effect the teacher?

• Dedicated teachers suffer great angst when a student is not capable of doing the assignments required to meet core objectives. Either a separate set of lesson plans must be developed to meet the needs of the one student and/or fun, engaging projects must be scrapped in order to avoid upsetting or overwhelming the misplaced students. Teachers have their creativity stifled and are often left feeling overwhelmed by the demands of a misplaced students
• A major concern for many teachers is the lack of training they are given in how to deal with a student with severe emotional or social disabilities. Although most universities include a Special Education course within the Education College, it is often minimal. There is very little, if any, training in how to address the needs of students with Asperger's or a more severe form of Autism. Because of a lack of preparation, teachers often are left to use online literature to find articles about incorporating difficult students within the course. This literature may or may not help the problem.  
• Teachers often become overwhelmed and frustrated with the feeling of being unprepared for a student or being unable to help a student make progress that is meaningful. The frustration also builds when teachers see that non-disabled students are being held back by the demands and attention needed to try to get one disabled student to a level that is often unachievable. 
• Teachers are often not given a voice as to the placement of students within their class. This is especially true of teachers of elective courses. Even when a student is on a diploma tract for Special Needs students, they are still placed into electives courses where the content is not proper for their ability. In my early years of teaching, I had students placed in my computer classes that did not know the alphabet and were not able to speak. One child, who was non-communicative and wasn't even potty trained, was placed in a class whose objectives included creating and manipulating databases and spreadsheets. 

Summary
The problem with LRE is that it takes a major negative outcome to change the placement of a student. In other words, potential danger seen by teachers and counselors must be realized before they are given the opportunity to protect the disabled student, non-disabled students and teachers from impending harm. How is that fair to any party?