As I applaud the efforts and successes of schools like Cove, I must take issue with one comment made by Lisa Black in her article “Building confidence in classroom” (Metro, Jan. 22). Although federal law does require that exceptional students be educated in the least-restrictive environment, that environment is not always the regular-education classroom. For some students with special needs, the regular-education classroom can be a very restrictive setting. Depending on the nature of the student’s exceptionality, the least-restrictive environment may be a separate facility, a functionally based class, a resource room or any number of alternative placements.
For students to achieve success in the regular-education setting is a tremendous and admirable goal. Yet, if they cannot, we must see that they achieve success in settings and situations tailored to meet their individual needs.
What remains vital is to carefully assess and address the needs of each individual student and to strive to educate those students according to their unique abilities.
