Assessing a Least Restrictive Educational Environment Transfer through Social Comparison

The concept of programming for individuals with retardation includes a directive that people with handicaps are to be educated in environments that are simultaneously the least restrictive and the most appropriate. The purpose of the present study was to demonstrate a means by which the effectiveness of a “least restrictive environment” transfer from an institutional setting to a segregated community facility of the educational services for 19 students identified as retarded could be assessed. The evaluation was made in two ways: (a) through a comparison of several behaviors of the students before and after their transfer, and (b) through the social comparison method in which the behaviors of a target group are compared with the behaviors of a reference group. The results showed (a) that the level of appropriate responding increased when the group was transferred to the community, (b) that the level of inappropriate behavior remained the same after the transfer, and (c) that the levels of appropriate and inappropriate responding of the transferred group were similar to the levels of the community group.