Providing a legally-appropriate special education for students with bipolar disorder: issues and analysis – To determine what a legally-appropriate special education is for students with bipolar disorder, this study analyzed litigation trends involving students with bipolar disorder who brought cases under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Through review of the IDEA, its regulations, the pivotal Supreme Court and Circuit Court decisions interpreting the meaning of a free, appropriate public education (FAPE) and least restrictive environment (LRE), and cases involving students with bipolar disorder, this study identified patterns, trends, and relevant facts that appeared to influence courts decisions in favor of school districts and courts decisions in favor of students. The majority of the cases held in favor of the school district on both questions of eligibility and questions of placement. Furthermore, most of the cases involved the appropriateness of school district-proposed placements versus parentally-proposed private placements. In several cases, school districts argued that psychiatric hospitalization was a medical exclusion under the IDEA, since the hospitalizations were not diagnostic or evaluative and required physicians to implement the services. Two courts agreed that the residential setting was purely for psychiatric purposes and was not educational. In two cases, however, courts held that the psychiatric, emotional, and behavioral services provided to these students in residential facilities were so intertwined with the students educational services that they were covered under IDEA as related services.