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 may remove a student with a disability for not more than 10 consecutive school days for a code-of-conduct violation — the same as any other student. A series of removals can constitute a change of placement if it is a qualifying pattern totaling more than 10 school days in a school year.

Once removals exceed 10 school days in a school year, the school must:

• Continue providing educational services that allow your child to progress toward their IEP goals (even if they're out of school)
• If the removals constitute a change of placement, conduct a Manifestation Determination Review (MDR) within 10 school days of the decision to change placement
• Involve you as an equal member of that review team

Multiple shorter removals can count toward a change of placement only if they form a qualifying pattern; not every set of removals totaling more than 10 days automatically does.

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 did it have a direct and substantial relationship 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. Standard long-term suspension or expulsion is not available, subject to the special-circumstances rule. The school must return your child to the prior placement unless you and the school agree otherwise, and the IEP team must conduct an FBA if needed or review and modify the BIP.

Can My Child Be Expelled with an IEP?

Technically, yes — a child with an IEP can be disciplined, including through a change of placement, when the conduct is not a manifestation. Special circumstances can also permit an Interim Alternative Educational Setting (IAES) removal regardless of manifestation status. In either case, the school must continue providing FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education) and required services; your child cannot simply be pushed out without services.

There are three "special circumstances" where a school can remove a student to an IAES for up to 45 school days regardless of manifestation status. They apply if, at school, on school premises, or at a school function, the student carries or possesses a weapon; knowingly possesses, uses, or sells illegal drugs or a controlled substance; or inflicts serious bodily injury on another person, including substantial risk of death, extreme physical pain, or protracted loss of bodily function. Outside these narrow exceptions, the MDR process stands between your child and a disciplinary change of placement.

Can a Child with ADHD Be Expelled?

Yes, and it happens far too often. But ADHD — when it qualifies as an IDEA disability, including under the "Other Health Impairment" category — triggers the same protections as any other qualifying disability. Impulsivity, emotional dysregulation, and difficulty following rules may be relevant evidence, but the MDR must apply the two-prong test rather than treating the diagnosis alone as dispositive.

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. These figures include students with ADHD and other disabilities; they do not by themselves establish how any particular incident should be analyzed.

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:

Request an FBA if one hasn't been done, especially when behavior impedes learning or the behavior is part of a disciplinary change-of-placement analysis. 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. Ask the school how it is classifying each removal under applicable law and policy; informal pickups do not automatically have the same legal treatment in every situation.

Request the behavior plan be made a formal part of the IEP. Behavior strategies written into the IEP are part of the supports the school must implement; ask the team to document them clearly.

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, stay-put keeps your child in the IAES or alternative disciplinary setting pending the hearing officer's decision or expiration of the disciplinary timeline, 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 the school decides to change placement, the 10-school-day clock for the MDR starts; the deadline is not limited to the date a written notice is received.

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 the IAES or alternative disciplinary setting, not automatically the prior placement, 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 fact must be considered under the second MDR prong and can support a manifestation finding if the conduct was the direct result of the failure, but it does not automatically establish manifestation.

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