Once the IEP team has decided what services a child needs, a decision must be made about where services will be provided. Where the child’s IEP is carried out is called placement. Parents have the right to be part of the group that decides the child’s placement.
In deciding the child’s placement, the group must make sure that the child has the maximum opportunity appropriate to learn with children who do not have disabilities—in academic, nonacademic, and extracurricular activities. This part of IDEA is called Least Restrictive Environment or LRE.
(A legacy resource from NICHCY)
Who Makes the Placement Decision?
Often, the IEP team makes the placement decision. In some places, the placement decision is made by another group of people. In either case, under IDEA, the group that makes the placement decision must include the parent(s) and others who:
- are knowledgeable about the child;
- understand the meaning of his or her evaluation data; and
- know the placement options.
On What is the Placement Decision Based?
When discussing placement, the group should consider the child’s unique needs and determine the least restrictive placement for the child, based upon those needs. A placement that is least restrictive for one child may not be least restrictive for another. What is least restrictive for each child is based on that child’s unique needs. This means that the school system cannot use a “one size fits all” approach to educating children who have a disability. Decisions must be based on individual needs as stated in the IEP, and—
- may not be based on the child’s disabling condition or label (such as placement in a special class for students with intellectual disabilities just because a child has cognitive impairments);
- may not be based on disability program categories (placement in an particular program for students with learning disabilities (LD) just because a child needs LD services); and
- may not be based on the location of staff, on the funds that are available, or on the convenience of the school district. (Rebhorn & Smith, 2008)
QUICK LINKS FOR PARENTS
http://www.parentcenterhub.org/repository/placement-overview/ (information used above)
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