PLACEMENT WITH NEURO-TYPICALLY DEVELOPING PEERS TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT POSSIBLE

 

The District often contends that the Student requires placement in special day class (SDC) for the majority of the school day to appropriately address Student’s academic needs. However, the District should recall that the student in the leading case Rachel H. had an IQ of 44 and was still determined to be able to receive educational benefit in full-time general education classroom. 

 

In a Recent Supreme Court Decision, the Court determined school districts must offer more than the bare minimum (De minimus definition: means barely any education at all - “de minimus”) of services to students with special needs. (See Joseph F.). This present case is indistinguishable from the Endrew F. case in that it reflects that District offering the bare basic program, barely any education at all - “de minimus” of services to this Student who lacks the opportunity obtain appropriate services to address basic educational needs of reading, behavior support services, appropriate speech and language services, occupational therapy services, appropriate assessments, and placement in the least restrictive environment, with a 1:1 appropriate aide, in the general education classroom with non-disabled peers, to the maximum extent appropriate. District is the primary cause Student has been deprived of the right to be included with typical peers to the maximum amount appropriate, as they have failed to offer Student reasonable services, in order for her to benefit from her education.

 

When determining whether a placement is the least restrictive environment for a child with a disability, four factors must be evaluated and balanced: (1) the educational benefits of full-time placement in a regular classroom; (2) the non-academic benefits of full- time placement in a regular classroom; (3) the effects the presence of the child with a disability has on the teacher and children in a regular classroom; and (4) the cost of placing the child with a disability full-time in a regular classroom. Applying the four Rachel H. factors often demonstrate that students require placement in a general education class to make progress appropriate in light of his circumstances. The right standard is not to offer a better placement, it is simply to offer the least restrictive environment in which a student can obtain some educational benefit. Students learn and can grow from the neuro-typically developing students around them, good and bad. Students can develop friendships with classmates, and they can help each other learning to share and grow socially and academically. This is true of most successfully included children.  

 

An IEP must be designed to address a student’s unique needs. California’s definition of special education includes both specially designed instruction to meet the unique needs of individuals with exceptional needs and related services to enable them to benefit from such specially designed instruction. Related services may be referred to as designated instruction and services (DIS).