Manifestation Meeting?? | Autism PDD

I thought you had to do something wrong to get into trouble? How old is she and does she have an IEP? I've never had a meeting for that. Did have a meet bec. my daughter bit the manly looking women gym teacher, after she physically grabbed my daughter. They put her on behavior plan with no touching her rules. amberwaves39317.4970023148She does have an IEP and we have had a behavior plan for her. How are they going to determine if its because of her disability or not? We have had the school do the functional assesment before,but there was someone else that we wanted to do it and teach them how to deal with our dd behaviors but they dont want to pay for it.Make a WRITTEN request for a 'functional behavior assessment' TODAY if possible...a manifestation meeting is to determine if what she did was because of her disability or not. Great my daughter just got her first suspention! They said today she tried to stabbed a student with a pencil!!! They said it was out of the blue incedent they were doing work and she went to try and stab him,the boy didnt even see it,his back was to her and they said they got it to her before she did it.They said they took her to her timeout room and she didnt want to sit there so she sat outside the room curled up in a ball and didnt want to come out for a long time they said. Now she is suspended tomorrow. And now we are going to have a manifestation meeting. Has anyone have to go through this? If so can you shed some light on it."They" (school administrators, etc) are likely to try to say the behavior is not a result of her disability, and therefore she can be punished (suspended) for the behavior. You should bring information about impulsive behavior as a characteristic of autism. Also, if she did the stabbing due to some sense of injustice you can relate the behavior to rigid-rule-bound thinking.
If the behavior is a result of her disability they cannot punish her for it.

Thanks Tzotya,

I feel better today, I talked to the special ed teacher and she was saying that my dd behavior is due to her disability and the she said the principal agrees. I asked her about her suspenstion being taken away and she said she doesnt think so,and she can still be suspended for up to 10 days. How do I get them to do a formal functional behavioral assesment? I mean there own staff has done one,but something isnt working because my dd is still have hitting and kicking episodes. I requested someone outside the district do it but they only allowed her a hour and she stated that is not enough time to do a proper eval,and this was last year. So how to I get them to agree to have her come out to do a proper eval? She is a 100 an hr and I am not sure how long she would need or otherwise I would try to hire her,but I dont have the extra money

Yes, she can be suspended for up to 10 days. A Manifestation Determination Hearing takes place after a 10 day suspension has been imposed or after an accumulation of 10 days of suspension during the year. If during that formal proceeding it is shown that the suspension is due to your daughter's disability, THEN the suspension is taken away and a new behavior plan is developed and implemented.

The school must be conducting an FBA (suspension or not) for students who have challenging behaviors. This should already have been done for your daughter, but I'm not that surprised that it hasn't been. The schoool psychologist should be able to conduct the written FBA and use it to develop a written positive Behavior Intervention Plan that ought to be attached to your daughter's IEP. To learn more about FBA's and BIP's, go to cecp.air.org Try getting this through the District using their personnel first. Even if you get an outside person to come in, the District is not REQUIRED to use that plan -- only to "consider" it. They will buy in to a plan THEY come up with faster. The trick is to ask for another FBA if this plan doesn't work. Ask in writing every time and stay on top of them. Also, go to www.wrightslaw.com and search Functional Behavioral Assessment and Behavior Intervention Plan for good info.

I have sat at the other side of the table in manifestation meetings so here is my two cents. In my district, there is a review of the student's information (IEP, any medical reports, details of the situation that prompted the manifestation meeting etc). Then there is a determination if the behavior of the student is a manifestation of the disability. If it is indeed a manifestation, everything ends here and likely a new IEP meeting and amended behavioral plan would be pursued (for a later date) so that whatever may have precipitated the event may be addressed. If it is determined that the disability is not the cause of the behavior, the next step is to determine the consequences for the student. A top administrator will handle this. I have never seen a disabled student receive the consequences given to a regular education student if the IEP documents a disability that would explain behavioral infractions. It sounds like you have that. I have seen students whose disability does not explain the behavior receive the full consequences but these have usually been students with types of disabilities that aren't linked to behavioral episodes, such as the student with a reading disability who is mainstreamed into regular education classes. Even if a child is expelled the school must still educate. Hope this helps.

This is SERIOUS. You DEFINITELY want them to find that the incident was a manifestation of your daughter's disability. They then MUST erase the suspension from her record, make her not be suspended any more and do a formal FUNCTIONAL BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT with a resulting BEHAVIOR INTERVENTION PLAN. They must then also reconsider her current placement in school. That does not mean they must change it, but if it is for her safety and the safety of others, they CAN.

If it is determined that your daughter's actions were NOT a manifestation of her disability, she will be disciplined exactly as any other NT student would be. That could mean a much longer suspension, or even an expulsion (at least in theory). Ask to get a written copy of the District Discipline Policy as it pertains to NT students. It pertains EXACTLY the same way to Spec. Ed. students if the particular misbehavior is determined to NOT be a manifestation fo the disability.

You MAY need the help of an advocate or lawyer.