August 2025:
The MLO Minute: “Least Restrictive Environment Does Not Mean “Fully Inclusive” and Special Education Students Require Specially Designed Instruction” —
By Heather Hulse, JD, MA, MS, Senior Partner Scranton Office/Leady Attorney for Western Pennsylvania —
The federal requirement for school districts and charter schools to provide special education students appropriate services in the least restrictive environment often gets misconstrued. Several school districts in the state of Pennsylvania fail to have appropriate learning support, autistic support, or emotional support settings under the guise of “full inclusion.” That is not what the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”) intended, and the case law is quite clear.
Students that need learning support, emotional support, or autistic support services within a learning support, emotional support, or autistic support classroom setting must be provided as such. However, some school districts implement a “catch-all” resource room period once per day to provide all of these services in one single classroom for a variety of student needs, and the students spend the remainder of their school day in the regular education setting. This is not necessarily consistent with the IDEA’s requirement to provide students an individualized and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment.
Providing services in the least restrictive environment means that special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of special education students from the regular education environment occurs only if the nature and severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily. Moreover, the IDEA specifically provides that special education students should not be removed from education in age-appropriate regular classrooms solely because of needed modifications in the general education curriculum. However, the educational program and placement for students must be appropriate to meet the student’s special education needs. This means that each special education student must be provided with the individualized specially designed instruction that they need to make meaningful educational progress.
It is important to fully understand what is meant by providing an appropriate program and placement for special education students in the least restrictive environment, and that it does not necessarily equate to “full inclusion.” Indeed, in a recent Special Education Hearing Officer Decision, the Hearing Officer determined that the District’s position that school-based services are only warranted when needed to access the general education curriculum, “[reflected] a misunderstanding of FAPE.”[1] Some students with special education needs may receive most of their instruction in the regular education environment, but all identified special education students require some degree of “specially designed instruction,” which means instruction that regular education students do not typically receive. IEP teams may additionally conclude that a particular student’s specially designed instruction can be provided within the general education setting. So, it is certainly conceivable that some special education students may only require one period of resource room placement where perhaps they receive fifteen minutes of direct instruction in executive functioning per day. It is highly inconceivable, however, that there are no special education students at all in an entire school building that require specially designed instruction in reading, written expression, or math in a smaller setting. These services typically take place in a learning support setting for an entire class period where an appropriate research-based program is implemented with a small group of special education students who have similar special education needs.
It is very important for families to understand what their child’s specific special education needs are, where they are currently functioning in those areas of need, what is the expected level of achievement, and what specially designed instruction — meaning actual instruction and not just accommodations — will be provided to address those needs. Families need to know that accommodations, such as extra time, reduction of assignments, modifications to assignments or testing materials, the provision of notes or graphic organizers, and the provision of reading materials to students are not specially designed instruction, but rather accommodations. Specially designed instruction includes the provision of actual instruction — perhaps in reading, written expression, math, executive functioning, social skills, or coping skills. If your child has an Individualized Education Program (“IEP”) that fails to include any actual instruction, there should be a concern, as special education students require specially designed instruction.
If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s educational needs not being met, please feel free to contact our office by CLICKING HERE. Our initial consultation is free, and these matters are often handled on a contingency basis without hourly fees charged to families.
[1] See Final Decision and Order, ODR File Number 30297-24-25-AF (July 31, 2025).
