FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education) and
LRE (Least Restrictive Environment
What is FAPE?
School districts, through IDEA, are required to provide disabled students with a free appropriate public education, referred to as FAPE. Thanks to FAPE, an individual who is struggling in school due to a disability is provided a wide range of services to meet their needs.
This basic principle of IDEA and FAPE means "...an IEP Team must consider educating and providing services to a student in the same setting as students without disabilities for academic, non-academic, and extracurricular activities," and therefore makes it so "a student with disabilities can be removed from the general education classroom setting only if the needs are so severe or disruptive that he or she cannot make educational progress, even with extra support and services in the general education classroom." - The Office of Education Ombudsman.
This basic principle of IDEA and FAPE means "...an IEP Team must consider educating and providing services to a student in the same setting as students without disabilities for academic, non-academic, and extracurricular activities," and therefore makes it so "a student with disabilities can be removed from the general education classroom setting only if the needs are so severe or disruptive that he or she cannot make educational progress, even with extra support and services in the general education classroom." - The Office of Education Ombudsman.
What is LRE?
FAPE also requires students with disabilities to "be educated in the least restrictive educational environment [LRE] - and that may mean a general education class." -The Office of Education Ombudsman. This range of educational settings is called the continuum of placements (right).
"An essential principle of IDEA is that students with disabilities should be included in the general education program as much as possible and not excluded or educated separately." However, "not all students with disabilities can succeed in a general education classroom without support. Some students need individual help from a teacher’s aide in the class, or modifications of curriculum, materials, or methods of instruction. Other students require a different setting entirely, such as a special day school or home instruction.
"Every school district must make sure that a range of educational settings is available for students with disabilities since some students with disabilities need more than can be offered in a general education setting. Students must be educated in the educational setting that is closest to the general education classroom, but will still allow the student to make academic progress." - The Office of the Education Ombudsman FAPE and LRE protect the rights of children with disabilities by giving children an opportunity to receive an appropriate education in an environment that does not segregate a child with a disability from a "normal" child.
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