Win Your Manifestation Determination And Keep Your Child In School
What parents need to know about manifestation determinations
Learn About Manifestation Determinations
What Is A Manifestation Determination?
If you’re facing a manifestation determination for your child, it means that the school administration wants to punish your child for misbehavior, typically with a long-term suspension or expulsion. The manifestation determination is a defense procedure specifically for children with disabilities. If you win, the school cannot punish your child for the misbehavior that got them in trouble. If you lose, your child can be punished like any other child, up to and including expulsion. Learn more…
How To Win A Manifestation Determination
You’re more likely to win your manifestation determination if you follow a sound strategy. This article explains what you have to prove to win, and how to prove it. Learn more…
How To Prepare For Your Manifestation Determination Meeting
The key to success at a manifestation determination meeting is proper preparation. This article tells you where to focus your efforts, and why. Learn more…
What Actually Happens At A Manifestation Determination Meeting?
Learn what to expect at your manifestation determination meeting. It will boost your confidence and help you prepare. Learn more…
Finding A Special Education Attorney Or Advocate For Your Manifestation Determination
Directories
Special education attorneys and advocates who represent children in manifestation determinations can be found in these specialized directories:
Articles
If you’re considering hiring an attorney or advocate to help you, read this article about hiring someone to represent you.
You Can Do This
Where to start
The best place to start is to read the article What Is A Manifestation Determination if you haven’t already. It will give you a good overview understanding of what’s going on, what’s coming, and what your role is as a parent in this process.
That article will then link you to additional articles that provide more detailed information on various topics you may have questions about.
Dealing with the stress
I’ve been through this process with many families, and I know how stressful it can be.
Part of that stress comes from having so much at stake. There’s not much I can do about that, there IS a lot at stake.
But part of the stress comes from a natural fear of the unknown. And that’s something I can try to help you with.
Most parents have never been through a manifestation determination before, and many parents have never even heard of the term. When you don’t know what to expect, it’s scary.
This website will help you with that. As you read the articles you will start understand what this process is about, how it works, and what to expect. That should help reduce some of the anxiety.
Beyond that, let me encourage you not to get overwhelmed by this situation. As the articles explain, you have an important role to play in this process to protect your child’s interests. You need to stay functional and keep your wits about you.
So if you find yourself feeling overwhelmed, take a little time for yourself and do whatever you need to do to deal with it. Vent to a friend, meditate, pray, workout, scream, break some stuff – whatever works for you.
There are often a lot of negative emotions that come with a manifestation determination. There can be a lot of anger, fear, confusion and feelings of futility. If you’re feeling those things, it’s perfectly normal. But don’t let those negative emotions control you. Again, there is work for you to do to help your child, and you need to stay functional right now. Acknowledge those negative feelings, but try to keep your attitude positive.
It’s not all bad news
In all honesty, a lot of good can actually come out of a manifestation determination if it’s handled well. You may be able to not only keep your child in school, but get them some extra help and support that they need in their IEP but are not currently getting.
That could include a behavior intervention plan if your child doesn’t currently have one, or improvements to an existing behavior plan. If behaviors are an ongoing issue for your child, you may be able to get the school to bring in someone with greater behavioral expertise who can suggest better strategies than those tried in the past. Depending on the circumstances, this process can give you a lot of negotiating leverage to improve your child’s IEP in relation to their behavioral issues.
It doesn’t always work out so well in the end, but there are often real opportunities to make things better for your child hidden in this process. Look for those opportunities, and take advantage of them as you find them.
Don’t be intimidated
Don’t let this process intimidate you. You don’t need to be a legal scholar to understand this process and help your child. There are things for you to do, but none of them are rocket science.
This procedure is about your child, and you know your child better than anyone else. That means that you know the subject matter of this procedure better than anyone else involved.
And once you spend some time on this website you might well understand manifestation determinations better than anyone else involved. Seriously.
The law and the facts may well be on your side. They often are.
So don’t be intimidated. You have more power over this situation than you probably think. Take charge.
A good place to start is by reading What Is A Manifestation Determination if you haven’t already.
You can do this.
About This Site
This entire website is focused on helping parents who are facing a manifestation determination for their child.
It’s intended to be a one-stop comprehensive resource for parents, providing the information and strategies they need to successfully navigate the process and keep their child in school. If you’ve got questions about manifestation determinations, the answers are probably here. I hope you find it helpful.
I’m James Lester, a special education attorney who represents children and parents. Learn more about me and why I created this site.
Don’t know what to do next?
START HERE ⇒ “What Is A Manifestation Determination?”