The U.S. Department of Education has reaffirmed the need for school districts to consider ‘least restrictive environment’ when determining work placements for students with disabilities during the transition years.
In a letter issued in response to an inquiry from a Wisconsin advocacy organization, Melody Musgrove, director of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Programs (OSERS), wrote that if a school district decides that gaining work experience is the logical next step for a particular student as he or she transitions to adult life, the least-restrictive-environment tenets of the IDEA apply to the selection of the work placement.
The letter acknowledges that a work placement can be an appropriate transition service for some students. If it is included as part of a student’s transition services, it must be included in the IEP and is therefore subject to the provisions of a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE), and Least Restrictive Environment (LRE).
In meeting the LRE test, a work placement in a segregated setting, like a sheltered workshop, is acceptable only if the use of supplementary aids and services could not support the student in a less restrictive setting.
The letter goes on to clarify other issues as they relate to job placement. Just as the LRE test applies in the classroom, supplementary aids and services based on peer reviewed research must be provided to the student in the work setting. The IEP team must consider aids and services, such as job coaches and assistive technology, that can help the student participate with non-disabled peers.
States also have a responsibility to monitor whether LRE is being met for youth in work placements. Therefore a district must be able to offer a full continuum of work placements based on the strengths and interests of the teens with disabilities in their district.
In reporting placement data to the federal government about placement of students with disabilities, states must include students placed in work settings in those numbers.
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