Special Education and Regional Center Blog

LRE stands for Least Restrictive Environment and means that the district must place your child in a placement that is the least restrictive environment that the child can accomplish his or her goals.

This website from the California Department of Education (https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/se/qa/pssummary.asp) is a great summary of Procedural Safeguards for students with disabilities receiving special education. This page is so good in deserves its own blog post. Consider printing this page to have available at your IEP. Highlights from the page are repeated below with my comments italicized.

Parents and students over age eighteen have the right:

1. Review your IEP.

Read over your entire IEP. Does the IEP address your child’s current issues? Do the assessments still sound accurate? Review the services that your child is receiving. Are they enough services? Is your child spending too much time out of the classroom? Does your child have access to general education peers?

Sometimes we, as parents don’t have our child’s complete educational record. Sometimes the school has not given us copies of the records. Prior to an IEP, when consulting with an attorney or advocate, or really at any time, parents can request their child’s educational records. It is an important parental educational right.

California state law, AB 107, was passed in June 2017 effecting Regional Center clients under three years old (Early Start). The new law clarifies that for Early Start clients that the Regional Center must pay for needed therapy if the child’s health insurance will not cover the therapy, and if the therapy is identified in the child’s individualized family service plan (“IFSP”).