Educational Placements for Students with Disabilities

There was a time when people thought of special education as a place. But that really isn’t the case any longer. Special education instead refers to services that are used to meet the learning needs of students with disabilities. You can find out more about special education terms and services on our Special Education 101 page.

Special Education Placement Options

Once your child’s Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD) committee (which you are a part of) has developed your child’s Individualized Education Program (IEP), the next step is to decide on an educational placement.

Placement refers to the amount of time in each school day that a student spends in the resource or in a general education classroom. The school district is required to have a range of placements where your child can be taught, including in the general education classroom.

In deciding your child’s placement, the ARD committee must make sure your child spends as much of their school day (as is appropriate) with children who do not have disabilities. This includes academic, nonacademic, and after school activities. This part of IDEA is called Least Restrictive Environment or LRE. And, in this case, the word "appropriate" follows the definition of Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE).

The LRE for children with disabilities depends on each child’s unique needs. It’s important to know that the school district cannot use a “one size fits all” approach to educating children who have disabilities.

The Educational Setting

There are some common placements in which students might get specific services. Teams of trained teachers and aides are in all types of placements.

A student could be placed in a single setting all day or spend parts of the day in different settings. For example, a student in a mainstream education classroom all day might receive special education services in the same general education classroom as part of regularly scheduled instruction time. Or, a student might go to different educational settings for part – or all – of the day to receive special education services.

There shouldn’t be any surprises, because educational placement is part of an Individualized Education Program (IEP) created by your child’s ARD committee. You are a part of this committee and have the right to agree with (or disagree with) your child’s placement. To learn more about what to do when you disagree with your child's placement, see our When You’re Having Trouble Getting the Right Services for Your Child page.

Here are some educational settings your child could have:

• Mainstream (many people refer to this as General Education): Many students receive special education and related services in a general education classroom where peers without disabilities also spend their days. This is called inclusion. Some services that a student might receive in a mainstream setting include: direct instruction, a helping teacher, team teaching, co-teaching, an interpreter, education aides, modifications or accommodations in lessons or instruction, or more teachers per student.
• Resource: This is a class for students who receive special education services and need intensive help to keep up with grade-level work. The class may have 1 or 2 students, or may have many students. However, students receive instruction or support based on their unique needs. The number of minutes your child spends in a resource class must be written into the IEP.
• Self-Contained Programs: This is a general term for placements for which the student needs to receive services outside of the general education classroom for half of the school day or more. Placement in a self-contained classroom has to be based on a student’s unique needs, not on the disability alone.

Programs That Often Have Specialized Settings

Each school district is going to offer its own set of special education programs and services, and the names of these programs will be different. However, here are 4 examples of programs often delivered in specialized settings that we thought you should know about:

• Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE): This is a set of special education services for children age 3 to 5. ECSE services can take place in different settings, including a child development center, Head Start, a private preschool, or right on an elementary school campus. Any ECSE placement can include related services like occupational, physical, or speech therapy. See our ECSE page to learn more.
• Life Skills: This helps students with many different types of disabilities but generally those who need support with academic, social, or behavioral issues as well as daily living skills. Students who receive services in this program may stay until they turn 22 years old.
• Social Behavior Skills (SBS): This goes by different names in different districts. It is also called Applied Behavior Skills or just Behavior Skills. In this program, trained teachers help students learn decision-making and social skills (to promote self-responsibility) with other peers around. SBS is a separate classroom that children can stay in full-time or part-time, depending on their IEP.
• Transition or 18+: A small number of students may stay enrolled in special education services until they turn 21 or 22 years old (depending on which calendar month they turn 22), even after they have graduated with a certificate of completion. Students are able to get into these programs if it is approved by their ARD committee and written into their IEP before they graduate. Most of these programs are designed to help the student build more independence and get ready to go out into the workforce. Students might stay in the classroom for some of the day and go to job training for the rest of the day. You can find out more on our Transitioning Out of Public Education page.

Visiting Your Child’s Classroom

Every classroom will reflect the style of the teacher as well as the needs of the students in it. Visits can help you see if the classroom is set up to support your child’s mobility, sensory, or other needs.

Are computers, classroom materials, desks, and any assistive devices easy to reach and use? It might give you confidence to ask your child’s teacher these and other questions during a tour – and work with them if you have concerns.
 

“Your child’s educational placement should be determined by their needs, not just which services the school has to offer.”

- Parent