The Least Restrictive Environment, known as LRE, is an ingrained component for any educator working with students with special needs. Having the privilege to have been one of the esteemed Dr. June Downing’s graduate students, I was taught about LRE and inclusion from the very beginning of my career. At the time (over 2 decades ago) this was a pioneering way to educate our students with intensive needs. Inclusivity was the mainstay of her program, and in turn we were instructed to teach all children in their LRE. June was a dedicated proponent of inclusive education, viewing access to general education program and peers without disabilities as best practice, as well as advocating for equality. She never let us a finish a project as there were always improvements that could be made to ensure it would continue to meet our students’ needs in their LRE. I think back to her multicolored pen marks on our projects and papers continually asking us to dive further. Our cohort proudly called ourselves “Junies” and whenever we reconnect after long periods, we have a special connection grateful that we learned from the one of the most influential inclusion specialists of our time.
LRE is a vital component in the development of an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and plays a critical role, influencing where a child spends their time at school, the services provided, and the relationships a child develops within their school and community. Collaborating with IEP team members about a student’s LRE is always interesting as the team determines what supports are needed to ensure our learners are able to spend as much time as appropriate with their neurotypical peers and classroom settings. As each student is unique, these collaborative discussions have a multitude of variations embedding general education, systematic instruction, modifications, social skills training, and so forth.
In Finland, they use the same terms of inclusion and least restrictive environment that are a foundational component of special education back in the States. Yet here the Finnish perception or perhaps definition of LRE is different. It feels like being in an alternate universe because the same terms are utilized, however their interpretation and implementation is contrasting. Maybe because special education and inclusion are my greatest area of expertise, I find these subtle differences thought provoking while perhaps to someone else they sound and appear to be the same. So many components of the Finnish educational system are amazing and I am eager to bring these back home to share with my colleagues. However, this particular aspect has me a bit turned around. They routinely utilize separate schools, separate buildings (though perhaps attached to neighborhood schools via locked doorways), and separate classrooms for 100% of the day for students with mild to severe disabilities, yet Finnish educators refer to this as inclusion. Yep, it’s perplexing.
In Finland I have observed excellent teachers of students with special needs implementing evidence-based practices in a calm and caring environment. I have had brilliant conversations about the best ways to support students with intensive special needs. The Finnish educational system ensures there are more than enough appropriate supports for their students served by highly regarded teachers all with master’s degrees and instructional assistants who have gone through 1-2 years of certificated training. The supports, materials, and classrooms are chock full of the evident dedication that students receive what they require to be successful.
However, I’m curious as to where students who have more intensive special needs receive their education. I find myself biting my tongue at each school site. Finnish educators have warmly welcomed me into their schools to observe and conduct professional conversations. Yet I desperately want to help them understand the possibility of implementing a different variation of inclusion throughout their students’ school days.
My Fulbright host at JYU and I have been discussing these findings. Our conversations are invaluable as we collaborate and develop a plan of how to share this information and create new protocols. We decided on videotaping one of my lectures with a question and answer section as a jumping off point to lead the way to further discussions with their teacher candidates. After being given student case studies by a doctoral student from her current research, I will share in this controlled and open setting about how this student can be successfully included within their general education setting. I feel like a kid in a candy shop because I love this! I can’t wait to have the opportunity to help the educators in Finland understand perhaps an alternate setting in which they can begin to educate their students in what can be an empowered use of LRE.
Further updates forthcoming…