Learning the skills to maintain expected behavior and follow school rules is part of education. All students learn social, emotional and behavioral skills. Students with disabilities may get extra help in these areas of learning. Some have individualized behavior support plans.
When the pre-teaching and interventions fail to stop a behavior from causing a problem, the school might call a parent to say, “Take them home.” What happens next could depend on how well-informed parents are about the rights of students with disabilities.
This video provides key information about what to do if your child is being sent home. The first thing to ask is, “Are they being suspended?” If the answer is yes, the school is required to file specific paperwork. If the answer is no, a parent has choices and may support better long-term outcomes by carefully documenting what happens next.
Below are links to resources referenced in the video:
- Supporting Students with Disabilities and Avoiding the Discriminatory Use of Student Discipline under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, from the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, July 2022
- WAC 392-400-455, the Washington Administrative Code that describes the schools responsibility to notify parents and the details they must include in writing if a student is excluded from school as a disciplinary action
- OSPI Special Education Technical Assistance Paper No. 2, a Technical Assistance Paper from Washington’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) about discipline procedures for students eligible for special education services
- PAVE’s Behavioral Health Toolkit
- PAVE’s video training about developing an individualized behavior plan
- PAVE’s sample letter to request a functional behavioral assessment
- PAVE article with more detail: What Parents Need to Know when Disability Impacts Behavior and Discipline at School