By Frances Shefter, Esq. (and mom)
Full Parent’s Guide to the continuum: Understanding Special Education Placement.
Part 2: General Education Classroom
In Part 1, we talked about the special education continuum and why the IEP team should first determine what your child needs and what services are necessary before deciding placement. Now we are starting at the least restrictive end of that continuum: the general education classroom with appropriate supports.
Under IDEA, students with disabilities should be educated with nondisabled students to the maximum extent appropriate. That means the IEP team has to consider whether your child can receive an appropriate education in the general education setting with the right special education services, related services, and supports. General education with supports is the least restrictive environment, but that does not mean every student has to start there and fail before another placement can be considered. It must be considered, but the placement decision still has to be individualized based on the child in front of the team.
That is also true for students with significant academic needs, including students working toward alternative learning outcomes or a certificate rather than a diploma. Being on a certificate track does not automatically mean general education is inappropriate. The team still has to consider whether the student can be appropriately educated with nondisabled peers for some or all of the school day with the right services, supports, modifications, and Supplementary Aids and Services. For one student, that may mean participating in general education for electives or certain academic classes with modified work. Another student may be able to spend much more of the day in general education with individualized supports. The decision should be based on the student’s actual needs, not on the type of diploma or certificate the student is expected to receive.
For many students, general education with special education support is exactly the right placement. What that looks like can vary significantly from one student to another.
Push-In and Pull-Out Services
A student can have a general education placement and still receive special education services both inside and outside of the general education classroom. You may hear these described as push-in and pull-out services. Push-in generally means the special education service is provided within the general education classroom. Pull-out means the student leaves the classroom to receive the service. A child may receive one or the other, or a combination of both, depending on what the IEP team determines the child needs.
The important part is that the IEP should clearly define the service. If your child needs specialized reading instruction, for example, the team should determine how often that instruction needs to occur and how long each session should be. Maybe the child needs reading instruction five days per week for 45 minutes. Another child may need math support three times per week for 30 minutes. The frequency and duration should come from the child’s needs, not from the school’s existing schedule.
Once the team determines the service, including the frequency, duration, and whether it will be provided inside or outside of the general education setting, then it can discuss the practical details. Will the service be individual or small group? Who will provide it? When will it occur? If the student is leaving the classroom, what instruction will be missed? I want those conversations to happen in that order. We should not start with, “The reading group meets three times a week,” and then decide that your child gets reading three times a week. The team should first decide how much reading instruction your child needs and then figure out how to provide it.
The same is true with push-in services. Simply having a special education teacher in the classroom does not automatically mean the child is receiving specially designed instruction. Parents should understand what the special educator is actually doing, what need or goal is being addressed, and how frequently that service is being provided.
What About Supplementary Aids and Services?
Supplementary Aids and Services are also an important part of the IEP, but they are not limited to students in general education. A child may need Supplementary Aids and Services in any placement along the continuum. In the general education classroom, these supports may help remove barriers so the student can access instruction and participate with peers. Depending on the child, that may include visual supports, breaks, assistive technology, organizational supports, behavioral supports, reduced distractions, additional processing time, or changes in how information is presented.
It is important, however, not to confuse Supplementary Aids and Services with special education instruction. If a child needs explicit, specialized reading instruction, accommodations and classroom supports do not replace that instruction. The child may need both. This is why I want parents to look at the entire IEP rather than just the placement. Two children can both have a general education placement and have completely different school days because the services and supports they need are different.
Is General Education With Supports Working?
Once services are in place, we have to look at whether they are actually working. Is your child making meaningful progress toward the IEP goals? Is your child able to access instruction? Are the services being provided at the frequency and duration written into the IEP? Does the data show that the child is benefiting from the current combination of services and supports? I would not look only at grades. A child may have passing grades but still require constant adult assistance, significant reteaching, or so many modifications that the grades do not tell us much about how independently the child is accessing instruction.
If the child is not making progress, that does not automatically mean general education is the wrong placement. Maybe the child needs more intensive services, a different type of instruction, or a change from push-in to pull-out for a particular skill. On the other hand, if the child cannot receive an appropriate education in general education even with appropriate services and supports, then the team may need to consider another placement along the continuum.
How Shefter Law Can Help
At Shefter Law, we help families look beyond the words “general education” on the placement page and understand what the IEP is actually providing. We review the Present Levels, goals, special education services, related services, Supplementary Aids and Services, and progress data to see whether the pieces fit together and whether the services are appropriate for the child’s needs.
We also help parents look closely at frequency and duration, whether push-in or pull-out services make sense for the skill being taught, and whether the school is determining services based on the child’s individual needs or simply fitting the child into an existing schedule. Sometimes general education remains the right placement, but the services need to change. Other times, the information shows that the child needs a different setting. The goal is always the same: figuring out what this particular child needs to receive an appropriate education.
Final Thoughts
General education with appropriate supports is the least restrictive environment on the special education continuum, and the IEP team must consider whether your child can be appropriately educated there. It is not, however, a placement every child has to try before the team can consider something more specialized.
If general education is appropriate, look carefully at the services. Are they push-in, pull-out, or both? How often will they occur? How long will each session last? What will the instruction actually look like? What Supplementary Aids and Services does your child need? The label “general education” tells you very little by itself. What matters is whether the IEP provides the individualized services and supports your child needs to make meaningful educational progress.
Full Parent’s Guide to the continuum: Understanding Special Education Placement.