Dr. Donald R. Kennedy

The appellants appealed the identification and placement of their child by the school board's Identification, Placement and Review Committee.

The board had identified the child as trainable retarded and placed the child in a segregated school for the trainable retarded.

The appellants sought an identification of multihandicapped and placement in a regular kindergarten class with support staff.

The Tribunal found that the child's severe physical and communication limitations met the definition of multihandicapped.

However, the Tribunal rejected placement in a regular classroom, finding it would not meet the child's intensive needs and would likely result in the teacher's aide becoming the primary caregiver.

The Tribunal ordered the child placed in a class for the multihandicapped with an appropriately modified program.