Court finds that student’s violent behavior was not a manifestation of his disability

An eighth-grader and his mother contested the results of a Manifestation Determination Review (MDR), which found that a 10-day suspension was not a manifestation of the student’s disabilities.  The mother argued that her son’s action—punching a teacher in the face—was a manifestation of his Autism Spectrum Disorder and other emotional behavioral disorders. The Court ultimately affirmed the results of the MDR, finding that the punching was not what the student’s disability-related behaviors typically looked like, and also finding insufficient evidence that the student was dysregulated at the time of the incident.