1342.12 Companion

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1342.12 Companion
July 12, 2017 Page 114
Although the district special education ISS is not required to attend the MDR meeting, the school must
contact the District Office to inform and consult with the district special education ISS and
Superintendent prior to the manifestation determination review meeting.
Conducting the Manifestation Determination Review (MDR)
At the MDR meeting, the CSC determines whether the student’s behavior is a manifestation of his or her
disability. The CSC must review and consider all relevant information, including:
1) Student’s file, IEP and current placement;
2) Special education services, supplementary aides and services;
3) Evaluation results;
4) Observations of the student;
5) Information provided by the parents;
6) Data from behavior intervention strategies and whether interventions were implemented with
fidelity; and
7) Whether there were failures to implement the IEP and if so what those failures were and when
and where they occurred.
The CSC must conclude that the misconduct is a manifestation of the child’s disability if either:
1) The misconduct was caused by, or had a direct and substantial relationship to, the child’s
disability; or
2) The misconduct was the direct result of the agency’s failure to implement the IEP and behavior
intervention plan.
How to Determine Manifestation
(Refer t at end of this chapter).
Standard One: Was the behavior caused by or directly and substantially related to the student's
disability?
Factors that should be considered include environmental factors, the student's school
program, home factors and the student's mental, physical and developmental challenges.
Other important factors the CSC may consider include the following:
 The student's discipline history (total number of suspensions, the proximity of
suspensions and the length of each suspension).
 The type of misconduct in relation to the student's discipline history (isolated instance vs.
repeated; whether the student's behavior is substantially similar to behavior in previous and
current incident).
 The relationship of the misconduct to documented characteristics of the disability as evidenced
in literature/research.
 Whether the student code of conduct was provided to the family.
 Whether current behavioral strategies have been effective in preventing similar misbehavior
and reinforce desirable behavior in the student's school (school¬-wide discipline).
 The regency of the student’s FBA, the effectiveness of the student's Behavioral Intervention Plan
(BIP) in relationship to the misconduct, and whether the BIP is based on research-based
practices.