Least Restrictive Environment: Benefits & Examples

Real-Life Example

Let's look at a real-life example of a least restrictive environment. Victor is a fifth grade student who's been diagnosed with an emotional disturbance and qualifies for special education. At school, he curses, hits other students, runs through the halls, tries to hurt himself, and rarely complies with teacher requests. Victor's behavior is affecting his education, and he's falling further behind the rest of the fifth graders.

Considering Victor's diagnosis, the IEP team writes his IEP and includes a description of what the least restrictive environment will look like for him:

• Victor will have an adult aide with him at all times throughout the day. It's not safe for Victor to be on his own in any part of the school because of the hurt he may inflict on himself or other children.
  
  
• Since Victor's strongest subject is math, Victor will spend 30 minutes in his regular fifth grade classroom during math time accompanied by an aide. He'll have the opportunity to listen to the teacher's lecture and work on the same assignments as his regular peers, which will include half the number of problems. This is appropriate because Victor acts out when he is overloaded with work. The hope is that the IEP team will be able to ease Victor back into his regular classroom and complete the workload for a typical fifth grader.
  
  
• Victor will spend the rest of the school day in the special education classroom with his special education teacher, where he'll receive instruction in reading and writing, basic fifth grade science, and social skills. This setting is most appropriate for Victor because he's behind his non-disabled peers in those areas and, therefore, would not benefit from receiving the same instruction in the regular classroom.
  
  
• Additionally, Victor will be spend time with his regular fifth grade class during morning and afternoon recess, class parties, lunch, and silent reading time. This gives Victor supervised opportunities to learn how to socialize with other children and make friends.

The IEP team understands that Victor will benefit from increased exposure to other fifth graders and the fifth grade curriculum. For the majority of his academic instruction, he'll be in a special education setting where he'll have fewer peers to distract him, more one-on-one instruction, and unique lesson plans that are specific to him and his needs. As the year progresses and Victor improves, the IEP team will adjust his schedule to increase not only the time he spends but also the services he receives with other fifth grade students.