Do the Discipline Provisions of IDEA 2004 Extend to Children Being Tested for a Suspected Disability?

Yes. According to Parents Rights in Special Education (Procedural Safeguards) distributed by South Carolina's Office of Exceptional Children at the State Department of Education, Federal regulations for IDEA 2004 state that if a school had knowledge that the child is a child with a disability, the child is covered under these provisions. A school is deemed to have knowledge if a teacher or other personnel have expressed specific concerns about a pattern of behavior demonstrated by the child directly to the director of special education or to other supervisory personnel or if the parent of the child requested an evaluation. Records from the general education intervention process should be maintained. Such data will provide documentation that if there was a suspected disability at some time in the past, the school made the determination whether or not the child should be referred for an initial evaluation to determine eligibility. Therefore, it is important for schools to maintain records on children as such data could be important should a disciplinary proceeding occur later.