Explain how the following relate to IDEA: least restrictive environment, mainstreaming, full inclusion, response to intervention (RTI)

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Least restrictive environment is a feature of IDEA that requires schools to place students with disabilities in the most regular setting allowable. A school district must identify a series of increasingly restrictive placements that basically range from a regular classroom to an institutional setting,
and decide which of these is the least restrictive that will best meet the student's educational needs.
Mainstreaming is an educational policy that attempts to implement the least restrictive
environment concept of IDEA.
Full inclusion is not a part of IDEA, but is a policy of individual school districts that aims to keep students with disabilities in regular classrooms all day. This extension of the mainstreaming provision has become one of the most controversial outgrowths of IDEA. Response to intervention (RTI) is an attempt to change how students with disabilities are identified and was made a part of IDEA in 2004 . The basic idea is to design instructional interventions for students who are experiencing learning difficulties and then observe how well they respond. In essence, it is a teach-test-teach model of assessment. Students who continue to have problems in the face of several interventions then become candidates for a disability classification and an IEP.