Suspension and IEP Rights: What Happens When Your Child with a Disability Keeps Getting Suspended

Your child has an IEP and keeps getting suspended. The principal is now talking about expulsion. Every few days, you're getting a call to come pick them up. You've sat through the meetings, signed the behavior plans, and nothing has changed — except the number of days your child has missed school.

Here's what the school isn't telling you: once suspensions start piling up, federal law kicks in with significant protections. And yes, those protections apply to children with ADHD too — even if the school is trying to treat the behavior as a choice rather than a symptom.

The 10-Day Rule: When IEP Protections Activate

Under IDEA (the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), school staff can remove a student with a disability for up to 10 school days per year for code-of-conduct violations — the same as any other student. But after 10 cumulative days of removal in a school year, the rules change substantially.

Once your child hits that threshold, the school must:

• Continue providing educational services that allow your child to progress toward their IEP goals (even if they're out of school)
• Conduct a Manifestation Determination Review (MDR) before any long-term suspension or expulsion can proceed
• Involve you as an equal member of that review team

This applies whether the 10 days came from one extended suspension or multiple shorter ones that add up. Schools sometimes try to obscure this by keeping individual suspensions just under the limit, but the law counts cumulative days across the school year.

What Is a Manifestation Determination Review?

An MDR is a formal meeting that must happen within 10 school days of a decision to change your child's educational placement due to a disciplinary incident. The team — which includes you — must review all relevant records, the IEP, teacher observations, and any evidence you bring, then answer two questions:

1. Was the behavior caused by, or substantially related to, your child's disability?
2. Was the behavior a direct result of the school's failure to implement the IEP?

If the answer to either question is yes, the behavior is a manifestation of the disability. The school cannot proceed with expulsion or long-term suspension. They must return your child to their placement and immediately review — or create — a Behavior Intervention Plan.

Can My Child Be Expelled with an IEP?

Technically, yes — but only in narrow circumstances, and only after an MDR determines the behavior was not a manifestation of the disability. Even then, the school must continue providing FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education) in an alternative setting. Your child cannot simply be pushed out without services.

There are three "special circumstances" where a school can remove a student for up to 45 school days regardless of manifestation status: if the student brought or used a weapon at school, was involved with illegal drugs or controlled substances on school premises, or caused serious bodily injury to someone. Outside these narrow exceptions, the MDR process stands between your child and expulsion.

Can a Child with ADHD Be Expelled?

Yes, and it happens far too often. But ADHD (which qualifies under the "Other Health Impairment" category in IDEA) triggers the same protections as any other qualifying disability. Impulsivity, emotional dysregulation, and difficulty following rules are neurological features of ADHD — they are not willful misconduct. At an MDR, you can and should argue that these are disability manifestations.

The research is clear: students with ADHD in the United States are suspended at rates significantly higher than the general population. The U.S. Civil Rights Data Collection shows students with disabilities represent about 17% of K-12 enrollment but account for 29% of out-of-school suspensions nationally. ADHD-related behaviors are a major driver of that disproportion.

How to Stop the Suspension Cycle

Suspensions don't fix behavior — they temporarily remove a student from a setting where unmet needs are triggering crisis. If your child keeps getting suspended, something in the school's approach is failing. Here's how to push back:

Demand an FBA if one hasn't been done. A Functional Behavioral Assessment identifies why your child is behaving the way they are (attention, escape, sensory, or tangible functions). No behavior plan can work if it doesn't address the actual function driving the behavior.

Count the days yourself. Keep your own running tally of suspensions, including in-school suspensions and days where you were asked to pick up your child informally. The school may not be accurately tracking cumulative days.

Request the behavior plan be made a formal part of the IEP. Behavior strategies that live outside the IEP can be ignored without legal consequence. A BIP embedded in the IEP is legally enforceable.

Ask whether IEP services were provided on suspension days. After 10 cumulative days, your child is legally entitled to services even during removal. If the school suspended your child and provided nothing, they violated IDEA.

Document every disciplinary contact. Save every email, behavior incident report, and pick-up call. This becomes your evidence at an MDR if it gets to that point.

How to Prepare for a Manifestation Determination Review

The MDR feels like a tribunal — and in some ways, it is. Schools have staff who run these regularly. Most parents walk in unprepared. Here's what to do before the meeting:

• Request all incident reports, discipline records, and video footage in advance (in writing, via email)
• Get a letter from your child's private diagnostician (psychiatrist, psychologist, or BCBA) explicitly connecting the disability symptoms to the specific behavior at issue
• If the IEP included a BIP with a specific protocol (like a cool-down break), document whether staff actually followed it — because failure to implement is the second prong of the MDR test
• Bring a parent advocate or trusted support person if you can
• If you believe the behavior was disability-related, say "yes, this is a manifestation" clearly and document your position in the meeting notes

If the MDR goes against you, you can appeal through an expedited due process hearing. During the appeal, your child remains in the alternative setting — but IDEA's stay-put rule applies and services must continue.

The Behavior Support & FBA/BIP Toolkit includes a step-by-step MDR preparation guide, including the specific questions to ask at the meeting and how to use your child's diagnostic documentation to make the case that behavior was disability-driven.

If the School Is Already Talking Expulsion

Get the conversation in writing. Schools often make verbal threats of expulsion as a pressure tactic without committing to a formal process. Once a placement change decision is made in writing, the 10-school-day clock for the MDR starts.

Do not sign anything at an MDR that you don't agree with. If the school presents a document concluding the behavior was not a manifestation, you can dispute that finding in writing and request an expedited due process hearing. The stay-put provision means your child remains in their current setting (not expelled) while that process plays out.

If you believe the school failed to implement the IEP before the incident — for example, if a break protocol was promised and denied — that alone is grounds to find the behavior a manifestation, regardless of whether the disability caused it.

Suspension isn't discipline when it's applied to students whose behavior is their disability talking. The law knows this. So should you.