Moving towards a Least Restrictive Environment: A New Direction in Court Decisions

Abstract

The past ten years has been witness to a movement towards a less restrictive setting for educating students with disabilities. Although earlier court decisions were not always as supportive of inclusive settings, recent court decisions seem to indicate a movement towards supporting more integrated educational settings. The authors of this paper discuss the impact of a number of recent legal decisions regarding least restrictive educational settings and their implications for rural special education.

Who are we Forgetting in the Inclusion Matrix?

“…T he 1997 reauthorization of I.D.E.A. has strengthened the support for inclusion in America's rural schools, and brought about a frenzy of activity blending students with and without disabilities within the same general classroom environment (Weiss.& Rapport, 1996). Rural districts have larger struggles as they compass the task of meeting the educational needs of students with disabilities within their neighborhood schools (Sebastian & McDonnell, 1995).…”