Epic Notes — Special Education Boss®

Your School Said They Don't Have Resource. That's Illegal. Plus MDR, Compensatory Services, One-to-One Paras, and More

By Karen Mayer Cunningham | Special Education Boss® | Founder, Special Education Academy

Published April 2026 | Based on the Ask the Advocate LIVE Q&A — April 20, 2026

In This Post

Resource Rooms Are Required   ·   Schools Determine, Not Diagnose   ·   MDR — Both Questions   ·   Don't Drop the IEP by Phone   ·   One-to-One Paras   ·   Compensatory Services   ·   Testing Day Removals   ·   Educational vs. Academic Need   ·   Educators Over Curriculum   ·   Technology Is a Supplement

Can we just agree that it's against international law for IEP meetings to finish in April? Because they don't. They just don't.

I just went live and took your questions — and you brought the real stuff. Resource rooms that have been "eliminated." Teachers calling parents on the phone asking them to drop the IEP. Self-contained students relocated on state testing days. Manifestation meetings where the school tried to skip the second question. One-to-one paras. Compensatory services. Failing grades. Learned dependency. And a principal who told me, to my face, that a newly eligible student would not be getting a goal or services.

So let's get into it. Because you don't know what you don't know — but you need to.

If your principal told you the campus doesn't have resource, your principal is in violation of federal law. It's that simple.

Under IDEA 300.115 — Continuum of Alternative Placements — every school district must provide a range of placement options for students with disabilities. That statute is on page 88 of the Epic IEP Guide to Federal and State Law. It says:

Not every campus has to have self-contained. But every campus has to have resource. It's the law. I didn't make the law, but I do help people follow it.

You don't have to provide resource — but then you need to send back all of your IDEA money. You decide.

This one comes up constantly. A parent says, "The school diagnosed my child with autism." Or, "The school psychologist said they can't diagnose autism."

Schools don't diagnose anything. They're not doctors. There may be doctors in the school, but they're not your child's doctor.

What schools do is conduct educational evaluations to determine if a student meets the criteria for a federal eligibility category. That's a determination, not a diagnosis. The language matters because it drives what happens next — the eligibility determination triggers services under IDEA. A medical diagnosis does not automatically do that.

Similarly, if a school psychologist wants to reuse old evaluations on a reevaluation and skip testing that was requested, that's an ethical concern. We reevaluate for three things: to identify a new eligibility, to update present levels, and to determine if additional services are needed. If any of those warrant fresh data, we need fresh data.

A manifestation determination review — MDR — is required when a student with an IEP faces a disciplinary removal. And there are two questions. Not one. Two.

I was in one of these meetings last week. The team answered Question 1 — yes, the behavior was a manifestation of his disability. Then they wanted to stop. I said no. We're answering Question 2.

And here's what came out: the school confirmed they had talked to the student. The parent talked to him. The principal talked to him. Another principal talked to him. Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. Meanwhile, page two of his FBA specifically says that continuing to talk to the student when he is already shut down is ineffective.

So they hadn't implemented the BIP. That's a failure of the IEP — Question 2. And guess what happened when I asked how quickly we could get a behavioral specialist from the district level to help the campus learn to implement the FBA and BIP? We got one the next day. Both questions matter. Always answer both.

Someone asked, "Can a teacher call on the phone and ask if you want to drop your IEP and go to a 504?"

I had to think about my words carefully on this one.

Would you like somebody to just call you and say, "Hey, you want to get rid of your antidepressant medicine?" That's essentially what this is. An IEP is a child's success system. It's not a jacket you swap out.

If there's a conversation to be had about whether a student still qualifies for special education, convene a meeting. Look at the real data. Give the parent an opportunity to make an informed decision with all the information in front of them — not a phone call that puts them on the spot.

A parent asked, "Can the school deny our daughter with Down syndrome a one-to-one para?"

A one-to-one para is not a right. A free, appropriate public education is a right. And I'm actually reticent to ever assign a one-to-one, because it creates two problems.

Look at the full instructional day — 375 to 400 minutes. There has to be some time in that day where the student doesn't need someone at their side. Build from there. The goal is always to increase independence, not decrease it.

Compensatory services are owed when an IDEA violation has occurred and the student needs to be returned to where they would have been had the violation not happened.

It would be very rare that compensatory time equals every single missed minute. But here's the hard part — the student is the one who has to make up the time. Not the school. The student.

Most districts will say, "Why don't you just not have a summer break and come to ESY?" And here's what we say to that — you are not doing direct instruction during ESY, and I am not going to make the student pay for the failure of leadership.

Compensatory time can be structured in many ways. You can spread it over 12 months or 24 months. You can do it on Saturdays at the public library. You can do it every Tuesday for an hour after school. You can fold it into the instructional day. But it has to actually happen, and it has to be meaningful instruction — not packets.

And remember — unfortunately, the child with the disability has to serve those hours. So fight for the right structure from the beginning.

Someone asked, "What are your thoughts on self-contained kiddos having to relocate on state testing days because they are too loud?"

My thoughts? That's gross. And it's illegal.

When you move a student out of their placement — even for a day — you have put them out of placement. That's a placement change without an IEP meeting, without parent consent, and without data to support it. We do not remove children with disabilities because they might be loud during the state test. Period.

A diagnostician told a parent that a disability "cannot be added to the IEP because it doesn't affect academics."

Good news. It never needed to affect academics. The law talks about an educational need, not an academic need. Education includes behavior, social-emotional skills, communication, daily living skills, vocational skills, and much more. If a disability has an educational impact — in any of those areas — the student can qualify for services.

I had this exact conversation with a principal today. A student had a new eligibility. The principal told me, "We are not giving him a goal. We are not giving him services." I said, "We just found him eligible." She said, "Do you have new data?" I said, "I'm not doing this with you."

We got a goal and services.

Someone asked about the difference between Wilson and Foundations curriculum. And here's what I always say — curriculum doesn't change people's lives. Teachers do.

You can have the most certified, bonafide, glorified curriculum on the market. But if the person delivering it isn't good at working with kids, it doesn't matter. And you can have an educator who pulled materials together themselves — no brand name, no box — and they are incredible at intervening and making changes.

We love a good name brand. But we're talking about children. It all comes down to the greatness of the educator.

When the special educator says, "He does this on the computer and this on the computer and this on the computer" — I need you to understand something. The most amazing computer program cannot make a product accommodated or modified to meet the totality of a student's needs.

Technology is a supplement to instruction. Dream Box, i-Ready, IXL — those are supplements. They are not direct instruction. They are not specially designed instruction. And no matter how good they are, they cannot be made to be special education.

For the last 40 years, the American Pediatric Association has said that no minor should look at a screen for more than 60 minutes a day. We know technology is not improving outcomes for students in schools. We have to take back instruction.

When you hear a teacher or principal say they're using a specific software program, look it up. Find out if it's supplementary instruction or direct instruction. Because there is a very big difference — and your child's FAPE depends on knowing which one they're actually getting.

Rapid Fire

More Questions You Asked — Answered

Can a SPED teacher teach two classrooms that share a door?
No. When you leave one classroom, you've denied that room a FAPE. When you leave the other, same thing. One teacher, one classroom. That's a failure of leadership.

Can IEP students receive failing grades?
A teacher can issue whatever grade they choose. But if I'm the advocate, I'd be asking some very pointed questions about why we're failing a student with a disability. That's a conversation that needs to happen at the table — not on a report card.

Can a kindergartner be placed in self-contained for behaviors?
Yes. If the data supports it and it's the appropriate setting to address the student's needs, that's a placement the IEP team can consider.

Should recess be used for specially designed instruction?
No. Recess is a non-academic activity. Your specially designed instruction should be aligned to course content. As my mama would say, let them go outside and let the stink blow off of them.

What's the difference between service logs and data?
A log means someone filled out a form. It does not mean the service occurred. I'm not a big fan of the log. I want to see the data. Data tells you what happened. Logs tell you someone wrote something down.

Does dysgraphia qualify for support or OT?
All the "dys-" labels — dysgraphia, dyslexia, dyscalculia — are subcategories of a specific learning disability. I would rather have the eligibility of written expression if that's the area of need, because it gives us more targeted intervention. Dysgraphia alone often results in someone handing a child a piece of paper and calling it support.

For Educators

The Epic IEP™ Educator Academy — Starting June 1st

Starting Monday, June 1st at 7 PM Central, we're launching a brand new academy built solely for educators — teachers, case managers, service providers, paraprofessionals, and school-based staff.

It's $27 a month. It's separate from Special Education Academy. And it's only for people who work in the school system — because your needs, your questions, and your concerns are different from those of parents and advocates. You need a safe place where you can be trained, equipped, and resourced to be even more of a superstar than you already are.

Without educators, we get nothing done. And it's time you had a place that was built just for you.

The Takeaway

We are in the final stretch of the school year. If your school eliminated resource, that's illegal. If they called you on the phone to drop the IEP, that's not how this works. If they moved self-contained students out of their placement on testing day, that's a violation. If they told you a disability doesn't qualify because it doesn't affect academics, they're wrong.

Know the law. Know your rights. And show up prepared.

This is why we sit at the table prepared.

Ready to Go Deeper?

JOIN SPECIAL EDUCATION ACADEMY — FIRST MONTH FREE

400+ hours of training. Live every Monday at 8 PM Central. Join however you sit at the table.

GET THE EPIC IEP BOOK BUNDLE

Includes The Epic IEP™, the Federal & State Laws Guide, and the Epic IEP™ Para.

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Watch & Listen

YouTube: Watch This Episode on YouTube
Podcast: Listen on Buzzsprout
Apple Podcasts: Special Education Boss® with Karen Mayer Cunningham
Spotify: Special Education Boss® with Karen Mayer Cunningham

About the Author

Karen Mayer Cunningham is the founder of Special Education Boss® and Special Education Academy. She is the author of The Epic IEP™, The Epic IEP™: PARA, and The Epic IEP™ Guide to Federal and State Law for Special Education. Karen and her team of partner advocates train everyone who sits at the IEP and 504 table — parents, educators, advocates, and professionals — to navigate and negotiate successful student outcomes. Special Education Academy provides over 400 hours of on-demand training with live sessions every Monday night.

This content is educational in nature and does not constitute legal advice or legal representation. Special Education Boss® educates and equips families and professionals to understand and navigate special education systems.

"When we get it right for the child, we get it right for everybody."

— Karen Mayer Cunningham