Ask the Advocate • Special Education Boss®

When the IEP Doesn't Say It in Writing: A Back-to-School Q&A on Rights, Paras, and Placement

By Karen Mayer Cunningham  |  August 10, 2026  |  Special Education Boss®

School is back, and the questions are already stacking up. In this back-to-school Ask the Advocate, Karen Mayer Cunningham took them live, straight from parents, advocates, and educators at the IEP and 504 table. It all comes back to one thing, knowing your special education rights and how to use them. Here is the practical roundup, organized so you can find the answer you need and walk into your next meeting prepared. You don't know what you don't know, but you need to.

A reminder before we dive in: this is educational training, not legal advice. The goal is the same as always, to help you understand the process, know your rights, and sit at the table prepared.

Modifications vs. Accommodations

I'm told to give a student modifications, but there are none written in the IEP. What do I do?

Look before you assume it is missing. A modification can show up in more than one place. The language may live inside an IEP goal, under supplementary aids and services, or it may be listed with the accommodations. Check those areas first. And keep the distinction clear: an accommodation changes how a student learns, while a modification changes what a student learns. A modification changes the learner expectation, and therefore the learner production.

Is it compliant to modify a student's work if nothing is written?

No. Doing something outside the IEP is a violation. When that IEP was signed, it was codified, which is a formal way of saying it became law. It is not personal, it is law, and the reason it is law is that your district takes federal funds. IDEA is a federal grant program. If you want to change what was codified, there is a process to do that. But if you modify a child's work without the paperwork to support it, or you withhold something the child is supposed to have, you are denying that child a free appropriate public education.

What is a modified curriculum?

Technically, there is no such thing. Curriculum is the state standards, delivered through materials that vendors sell and states approve. Nobody publishes a separate modified textbook. What actually happens is that the special education teacher modifies the content and the delivery so the student can access the foundational pieces and keep pace with the class.

Placement and the Continuum of Services

Our principal said we have no resource room. Is that legal?

No. Placement is a continuum, not a single option, and public schools serving kindergarten through twelfth grade are expected to make that continuum available. That continuum runs from the general education classroom through resource support, separate classes, and more specialized settings, and it is grounded in the federal regulations at 34 CFR 300.114 and 300.115. If your building is telling families a whole rung of that continuum simply does not exist, that is worth questioning.

Do you recommend a special day class, or a 12-to-1-to-1 setting for a child on the spectrum?

When it is appropriate, and appropriateness is decided by the child's unique circumstances, not by a room number. There are students on the spectrum who need no additional services, some who need a 504, and some who need an IEP, and even within that IEP group the level of support varies from student to student. The standard here is Endrew F., the 2017 Supreme Court decision holding that a district must write an IEP that enables the student to make progress appropriate in light of that child's circumstances. A ratio does not describe a child's circumstances, so the placement question always comes back to the individual student.

What about a self-contained kindergarten with a large group of high-needs students, one teacher, and one para?

This is where preparation matters. We are seeing more separation of children with disabilities, and often we give kids with exceptionalities a very short window to prove they can be in the general education classroom. That is not the intention, the letter, or the spirit of the law. Think about how we treat any other skill. If a baby is not talking yet, we do not stop talking to him or move him to a room where no one speaks. We keep exposing him to language. Children with disabilities deserve that same runway to learn replacement skills. If you believe a self-contained setting is not your child's least restrictive environment, the move is to bring the data that supports a different placement.

Paraprofessionals and the Law

Does the special education teacher have to be in the room, or just in the building, for a para to run groups?

Follow the law, and the law gives you three phrases to hold onto: direct supervision, close proximity, and frequent contact. Direct supervision means you can actually see the person you are supervising. Close proximity means you are near enough to reach them. Frequent contact means real, regular interaction. A paraprofessional cannot replicate specially designed instruction he never watched a certified special educator deliver. The credentialed special education teacher does the teaching, and the para supports it. This has drifted since the pandemic, which is exactly why we wrote a book dedicated to protecting both the educator's and the para's roles.

Should a paraprofessional be collecting behavior data for every staff member?

If "every" means the para is the only one collecting it, that is a red flag. Data collection tied to specially designed instruction belongs with the credentialed special education teacher, whose qualifications are set at 34 CFR 300.156. Paras absolutely support that work, but support is not the same as being handed the entire data responsibility for the whole team.

What about the same para year after year, or a para for attention rather than behavior?

A dedicated para for a year or two can be wonderful. Over the long haul, though, it can set up learned dependency, and it can leave families anxious every year hoping their child gets "their" para. Fresh eyes see things a familiar adult may miss. And a para is not the answer to every situation. A one-to-one para is warranted when, without that extra set of hands, the student genuinely cannot be successful right now. A short attention span or a busy, active child does not by itself justify one. With every support, two things are always in play at once: meaningful benefit and harmful effect. You weigh both.

Advocacy and Filing Complaints

How do I become an advocate?

People often skip it because they assume it is too hard. It is more like a Rubik's cube. It looks impossible until someone hands you the code. That is what training does. You learn the steps, including the mistakes to avoid, so you can walk into IEP meetings confident, collaborative, and prepared to partner as an equal at the table instead of reacting.

How can I file a complaint as an employee of the district?

Speaking plainly, and as someone who champions teachers: if you want to keep your job, do not file it yourself. Employees who file often get fired or reassigned. The better path is to connect with an experienced advocate who can file on behalf of a group of children. There are legitimate channels for that, including your state's special education complaint process, the Office for Civil Rights, and other agencies. We teach exactly how to do this, and there are step-by-step trainings on filing both state complaints and federal complaints. The people implementing IDEA every day are teachers, parents, and paras, so it makes sense for us to work together and hold leadership to doing the right thing.

The district stopped communicating with the parent. Now what?

Pick up the phone before you send an email. Call the superintendent's assistant, introduce yourself warmly, and put the district on clear notice that a parent is being denied communication and, with it, her procedural safeguards. Name the timeline you expect and the next step you will take if it is not resolved. Communication is a right, not a courtesy.

Removing Your Child, Private Placement, and Homeschool

If I pull my child because school is not safe, can I get reimbursed?

Only if you protect that right in writing at the moment you remove the child. When you legally remove a child because the district cannot provide a free appropriate public education, which includes keeping the child safe, you give the district formal written notice. That notice states that you are removing your child as of that date, that the district is unable to provide FAPE, that you are giving the required notice, and that you intend to place privately and will seek reimbursement. If you do not put that in writing at the time of removal, reimbursement is off the table.

If a student is no longer enrolled, is the district obligated to provide services or pay for homeschooling?

No. Homeschool is not an educational setting under IDEA, so if you choose to homeschool, there is no obligation for the district to deliver special education or related services. Some districts will offer something to a degree, and you can always ask, but you would also have to make your student available to the district. It is also worth understanding that even when some services continue, they look very different outside of school, because you lose the generalization, maintenance, and fluency that happen in the school environment. Every choice, whether private, homeschool, or public, carries its own tradeoffs, and the right call depends on your child right now.

My child's aide was accused of harming him, and the district renewed the contract. What can I do?

Put it in writing to the people accountable for the district. Send formal notification to the superintendent and the board of trustees stating your concern and requesting written confirmation of exactly how they will ensure that individual will not be in proximity to your child. Ask for the response in writing so there is a record.

Eligibility and Evaluations

How many goals belong in an IEP?

As many as the child's needs require, and no more. An IEP goal targets an identified area of deficit where we are going to teach the child a skill. You do not need a hundred math goals or a hundred reading goals. You write goals across the areas where the child needs to build skills, which can include academic, functional, behavioral, communication, social and emotional, hearing, mobility, and feeding needs.

Could my three-year-old qualify under OHI when motor is the main concern?

Motor by itself is not an eligibility category under IDEA, so Other Health Impairment is not the fit for a motor-based concern. Orthopedic Impairment, however, is a category, so that may be the more appropriate consideration.

How do we support a hearing impaired, non-communicating autistic student?

The goal is to give the student a way to communicate, not simply a person to speak for him. That can mean the services of a deaf and hard of hearing itinerant teacher along with a comprehensive voice output communication device evaluation. Ask for that evaluation, ask for candidate devices to be trialed for roughly six weeks each, and ask that the process consider the student, the environment, the tasks, and the tools together so the match is right.

Preparation Over Panic: The Back-to-School Mindset

I'm bracing for the school to call me to come get my son. What do I do this year?

Call a meeting and get ahead of it. Figure out what additional training the staff needs so they can actually provide your child an educational benefit. If this placement turns out not to be the right fit, that is okay, and you talk openly about what a better one looks like. But sending a child home teaches only one lesson, that when things get hard, mom comes and gets me, and that is usually the outcome the child is not unhappy about. We want to teach a skill instead.

I can already tell the class is not ready for my child to start kindergarten. What do I do?

School has not started yet, so give the team a chance to do their job. Teachers put on their capes every single day for other people's children, and much of a district's hiring happens right before the doors open, so a few unsettled days is not unusual. Go to meet-the-teacher night, introduce yourself, and say plainly that you want to support them and you are excited for a good year. Here is the phrasing to carry all year: speak the promise, not the problem. If a real problem shows up, you address it then. Until then, you assume competency and lead with partnership.

My child needs an IEP, but the other parent won't allow testing. What can I do?

This one is hard, and honest. Two things in special education require consent: the initial evaluation, and consent for special education services. Without that consent, the evaluation cannot move forward.

Frequently Asked Questions

This is educational training, not legal advice. Special Education Boss® educates and prepares parents, advocates, and professionals. It does not provide legal representation.

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

— Karen Mayer Cunningham