What is Least Restrictive Environment

This chapter will inform early-career general education teachers on a broad spectrum of special needs topics. The chapter begins with an overview of the history of special education and describes how many facets of special needs education—such as how to classify and how best to instruct special needs students—are still controversial. It then segues into a discussion of various educational service delivery models in which special education students can be educated depending on their needs. The chapter also identifies characteristics and learning traits of special needs students. Next, it presents a detailed section of specific instructional strategies that both general education and special education instructors will find useful to implement when teaching students with special needs. Finally, a brief overview discounting many of the myths about special education is presented.