DO HYBRID PRESCHOOL PROGRAMS PROVIDE FAPE IN LRE?
* Many school districts have developed “hybrid” programs to provide special education to young children with disabilities. A typical “hybrid” preschool program is designed to provide special education to children with disabilities in a class that may include some nondisabled or “typically developing” children. In our experience, these “hybrid classes” are similar (or identical) to “self contained” special education classes. The Third Circuit found that hybrid programs do not usually provide FAPE in the least restrictive environment: “We believe that, under the IDEA’s strict mainstreaming requirement, a hybrid preschool program like Kingwood’s would ordinarily provide the LRE only under two circumstances: first, where education in a regular classroom (with the use of supplementary aids and services) could not be achieved satisfactorily or, second, where a regular classroom is not available within a reasonable commuting distance of the child. * EDUCATION IN REGULAR CLASSROOMS; CONTINUM O
