All students have rights and protections to make sure school discipline is fair.
Students with disabilities have extra rights and protections to make sure they are not punished because of:
- behaviors their disability cause, or
- behaviors related to their disability.
If you think your child's disability is the reason they are getting into trouble:
- Ask for a Team Meeting.
- Ask the school to do a “Functional Behavioral Assessment” (“FBA”).
An FBA is an evaluation that looks at a student’s behavior. This helps the Team understand why the behavior is happening and think about how to help. The written result of the FBA:
- Explains the reason for the student’s behavior. Example: a student may act out because they are looking for attention.
- Explains what usually happens just before the behavior, and what happens right after the behavior.
The school uses the results of the FBA to write a Behavior Intervention Plan (“BIP”). This plan tells teachers what to do to prevent your child’s behaviors and to keep the behaviors from getting worse.