Steps to Determining the Best Setting for a Specific Child

In identifying a student’s least restrictive environment, Yell (2006), Bartlett et al. (2007), and Latham and Latham (2008) specify that the multidisciplinary (IEP) team needs to go through the following steps in determining the best setting for a specific child:

Step 1: Determine whether the student is eligible for special education services, using non-discriminatory assessment procedures.

Step 2: Determine the Free Appropriate Public Educational services the student requires.

Step 3: Determine whether the appropriate educational services identified in Step 2 can be delivered in the general education classroom in its current form.

• If Yes – then the general education classroom is the student’s least restrictive environment
• If No – go to Step 4.

Step 4: Determine whether the appropriate educational services can be delivered in the general education classroom if the setting is modified through the addition of supplementary aids and services.

• If Yes – then the general education classroom with supplementary aids and services is the student’s least restrictive environment.
• If No – go to Step 5.

Step 5: If the general education setting (with supplementary aids and services) is not appropriate --- determine placement by moving along the continuum of alternative educational settings one step at a time, from the least restrictive setting to the more restrictive ones. At each step, ask whether the services called for in the IEP can be delivered in that setting.

• If Yes – then the setting becomes the student’s primary placement.
• If No – go to Step 6.

Step 6: Can the services called for in the IEP be delivered in the slightly more restrictive setting if they are modified through the use of supplementary aids and services?

• If Yes – then that is the student’s primary placement.
• If No – then repeat Step 5 for a placement on the continuum that is slightly more restrictive, and then, if necessary, go to Step 6 for that setting.

In this manner, the IEP team moves along the continuum of alternative placements, one step at a time, repeating Steps 5 and 6 until a Yes answer is obtained.

Step 7: In the context of the primary placement chosen, ask if there are additional opportunities for integration for some portion of the school day.

• If Yes – design a split placement by including the student in the integrated setting for part of the school day, and in the more restrictive setting for part of the school day.