Daniel, a 4-year-old with Down's Syndrome, has a developmental age of between 2 and 3 years, and the communication skills of a 1- to 2-year-old. He spends half his day in an early childhood class designed specifically for special-needs children. He spends the other half of his day in a regular prekindergarten class, where he requires almost constant attention from the teacher and is not progressing with his classmates. The question that is now before his admission, review and dismissal (ARD) committee is whether he should continue to be included in the prekindergarten classroom.
The larger question is, should he ever have been included in the first place?.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA as it is commonly known, prescribes the obligations and responsibilities of school districts toward the education of children with disabilities. One of the most difficult elements of this law has proven to be the requirement that children with disabilities be educated in the "least restrictive environment" appropriate for the particular child. Daniel's was the leading case on the issue of least restrictive environment. His case, Daniel R.R. v. State Board of Education (5th Cir. 1989), was decided by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court, which covers the state of Texas. In that case, the court laid out guidelines to be used in determining whether a student has been placed in the least restrictive environment. To date, there are no legal precedents on this issue at the national level since the U.S. Supreme Court has never decided a case involving least restrictive environment.
By the time Daniel R.R. was decided, Daniel was 6 years old. At the age of 3, Daniel had been enrolled in El Paso's early childhood program for children with disabilities. The following year, Daniel split his school day between the early childhood program and a regular prekindergarten program. By November of that year, the regular education teacher had concluded that Daniel could not participate in the prekindergarten class without constant, one-on-one attention and reported that Daniel failed to master any of the skills being taught.
