School & Education

The Manifestation Determination Review (MDR) is an IEP team meeting. The goal is to determine if a child's behavior resulted from: 

• the child's disability A substantial impairment that functionally limits a person in carrying out major life activities, such as walking, lifting, seeing, or learning. , or
• a failure of the school to follow the child's Individualized Education Program (IEP) or 504 Plan. 

A student can't be expelled for behavior resulting from their disability. Also, the school can't suspend them for more than 10 total days in one school year if their behavior is related to their disability. 

The school must hold an MDR if they are referring the student for an expulsion hearing When the parties in a case present their sides of a case to a judge or other officer . A school cannot expel a student with a disability without first holding an MDR. This meeting must be held within 10 days after the incident. 

An MDR must also be held anytime the school suspends a student for more than 10 days total in one school year. So, an MDR is required before a child can be expelled, but also after several suspensions that add up to 10 days total in one school year.  

An MDR meeting is required for students with IEPs or Section 504 Plans. A student is also entitled to an MDR if the school knows about their disability, but has been refusing to give them an IEP or is in the process of evaluating them for an IEP.

The team who created the student's IEP or 504 Plan should attend the meeting. An MDR is not a discipline meeting. People who are not part of the IEP team, such as deans or school security guards, should not attend. The IEP team must decide whether the student’s behavior had something to do with their disability.

At the MDR, the IEP team must decide whether:

• The student's conduct was caused by, or had a direct and substantial, relationship to, his or her disability, or
• The student's conduct was a direct result of the school’s failure to implement the IEP.

If the team says “yes” to either of the above questions, the student cannot be expelled and the current suspension A temporary stop of a law must end. Then, the school must conduct a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) and implement a Behavioral Intervention Plan (BIP). If your child already has a BIP, the team must revise the BIP to address this behavior.

If the team says “no” to both of the above questions, this means the behavior was not due to a disability or the school’s failure to implement the IEP or 504 Plan. In this case, the student can be disciplined in the same way as students without disabilities. This includes expulsion. A parent may disagree with the team's MDR decision. The parent may request an expedited due process hearing. Learn more about due process hearings and expulsion hearings.

If you are a parent, you should attend the MDR meeting. You should present any information that shows your child's disability caused the behavior. You may use a therapist's or doctor's testimony Evidence given orally by witnesses . They can call into the MDR, or you can bring a letter from them that explains the connection between the behavior and your child’s disability.

At the MDR, the IEP team will review:

• The information that you present,
• The information in the student’s file, and
• The teachers’ observations of your child.

The team must consider all of the above information. The team is not limited to just talking about information already in the IEP. The team is not limited to just discussing the IEP eligibility category. If you have diagnoses or other information that is not written in the IEP, bring it to the meeting, and the team must discuss it.

A school can move a student with a disability to an Interim Alternative Educational Setting (IAES) for up to 45 school days for certain behaviors. The school can do this regardless of the outcome of the MDR. Learn more about IAES 45 day placements.