When a school conducts a manifestation determination, it is usually because they want to determine whether or not a problem behavior, which would cause a student to be suspended or expelled, is a manifestation of his or her disability. School personnel may conduct a manifestation determination any time that they are concerned about a behavior. Typically, however, it is done when the school is required to conduct a manifestation determination by law.
The school is required to conduct a manifestation determination when a student's behavior has caused him or her to be removed from class, either by out of school suspension or by in school suspension for ten cumulative days. This is required regardless of whether it is the same behavior every time or different behaviors each time, or a combination. Once a student has been removed for ten days, the school is required to conduct a manifestation determination in order to determine whether or not the disability is a manifestation of the student's disability.
Parents should be notified of the manifestation determination and invited to a meeting to review the data that the school has collected. The parents should be a part of the team conducting the manifestation determination. The data that the team may collect includes: information about why the student was referred for special education, evaluation data from initial and triannual evaluations, behavior observations, teacher interviews, student interviews, parent interviews, any medical information that is available, or any other information that the team feels is necessary.
Once the team has collected the information, met, and made a determination, what happens next depends on what the team has determined. If the team determines that the behavior is a manifestation of the disability, Then the team must next conduct a FUBA (functional behavior assessment) and then a BIP (behavior intervention plan). A functional behavior assessment is conducted by gathering any necessary data to determine the function of the behavior. The results of the FUBA are used to write the behavior interention plan. The school should implement the BIP and keep data to determine if it is effective. If improvement in the behavior is not seen within a reasonable amount of time, the behavior intervention plan should be revised.
If the team determines that the behavior is not a manifiestation of the disability, the school may implement disciplinary procedures as they would with any other student . The school must provide special education services during the time that the student is suspended if the student has already been removed from class for 10 days. At any time, the IEP team can meet to discuss educational placement based on data. The team can decide that a different placement is necessary for the student to recieve FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education). This can happen during a manifestation determination or while doing a FUBA or writing a BIP. A change of placement can also occur at any other time that the IEP team is meeting, if the team feels it is appropriate. It is important to remember that the parents are a part of the IEP team along with the school personnel.
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