In Volume 25, Issue 11 of the Special Educator (December 4, 2009), there is an interesting article providing guidance to IEP teams when conducting manifestation determination reviews (MDRs) for students with ADHD. In two separate cases the school districts determined the students' behavior was not a manifestation of their disabilities. In Reeths-Puffer Schools, 52 IDELR 274 (SEA MI 2009), the administrative law judge (ALJ)ruled in favor of the school district when it determined that a student with ADHD told police he knew it was wrong to bring a knife with a four-inch blade to school and that he did it to protect himself. However, in San Diego Unified School District, 52 IDELR 301 (SEA CA 2009), an ALJ did not agree with the district and believed it was a manifestation of the student's disabling ADHD when the teenager served as the "middle man" when selling marijuana seeds. In this case the student had stopped taking his medication a few weeks earlier due to side effects. The evidence revealed "the impulsivity characteristic of the student's ADHD and his lack of medication led him to join the drug transaction without thinking of the consequences."IEP teams are advised to consider the following when conducting MDRs:
- analyze all student records
- conduct interviews and include anyone who might have witnessed the student before or during the particular incident
- examine medical and disciplinary history
- learn behavioral motivations or goals
- determine the student's cognitive awareness of right and wrong
- determine if the student knew he/she was violating school policy
- determine if any planning was involved and over what period of time the planning process occurred
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