Education Law Blog

Finding the Appropriate Placement for Students with High Functioning Autism

The fundamental challenge in finding an appropriate placement for the student with higher-functioning autism or Asperger’s syndrome is meeting the child’s emotional or behavioral needs while at the same time not short-changing him or her academically.

While many day therapeutic day programs are well-equipped to help the student develop social skills and learn to maintain a sense of equilibrium, some programs lack suitable academic rigor for the student.

A recent due process case from Massachusetts recognized this placement tension for a student with Asperger’s whose parents had unilaterally placed him in an out-of-state private residential program that they believed better met his needs.  The hearing officer, in agreeing with the parents, stated that although the school district was not required to provide a program that would maximize the student’s potential to ensure FAPE, the school still needed to consider the student’s potential in order to determine whether or not he was receiving “meaningful benefit” from the IEP.  To be meaningful, the student must be able to progress, even when his potential is high. In this particular case, the student had challenges with reading fluency and poor social skills.  Additionally, he could be argumentative and withdraw socially.  Yet the student was very talented mathematically and desired to attend college where he would study math. The hearing officer stated that the placement proposed by the school failed to provide FAPE.  Although the program specialized in students with Asperger’s and could help with the social skills and learning issues, its three teachers, none of whom had content certification, could challenge the student academically.  The program, which was unable to offer students any science labs, had also not sent any students on to college. This relatively flexible view of the FAPE requirement is new twist and one that is not applied in all cases, making this case very interesting to see if it gets applied in other cases.