You don't know what you don't know, but you need to. That is exactly why we go live every week.

In this week's Q&A, Karen Mayer Cunningham, the Special Education Boss®, sat at the table with co-host Cindy and worked through more than forty real questions from parents, advocates, and educators, most of them pointed straight at the new school year. Below is a practical roundup of what came up, organized so you can jump to what you need. Read it before your next meeting, because this is the kind of preparation that changes outcomes.

This is educational training, not legal advice. It is here to help you sit at the table prepared.

Before the First Bell: Start the Year Right

When does my child's IEP actually start? Do we give the teachers a couple of weeks? No waiting period. The IEP starts the same day the educational program starts for non-disabled peers. Your child is entitled to the same first day everyone else gets. Equity is the point.

Will the teachers even have a copy of the IEP? Sometimes teachers get an "at a glance" summary or a "teacher bundle," and sometimes that is enough, but a summary is not the full document. If it were us, we would ask the case manager, lead, or IEP chair directly: "Please give me the full copy of the IEP for every student on my roster." You cannot implement what you have never fully read.

My son is starting kindergarten with ADHD and I am worried. How do I help the teacher and my son? Show up on back-to-school night with a one-page introduction to your child. Put their picture at the top, then the two S's: strengths and struggles. Add your contact information and other family contacts, what your child will work for, what is not worth trying, and how they learn best. If you already have one, attach a full printed copy of the 504 or the IEP. Close it with one line: "We look forward to a great academic year. Let me know how we can serve you best." A teacher who receives that on day one is thrilled, not burdened.

IEP vs. 504: Know the Difference

My child qualifies for an IEP, but the school told me to keep him on the 504. Why would they do that? Usually because someone in the building was taught to say it. Here is the distinction that matters. A 504 comes from the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. It is a civil rights protection that requires accommodations for a person with a disability, the same way a workplace has to accommodate an adult employee. It is not an educational product. There is no specially designed instruction, no measuring, no monitoring, no goals, and no built-in adjustments.

An IEP does the teaching. Our one job in special education is to teach a child strategies to self-manage their disability, and a 504 does not do that. If your child qualifies for an IEP, understand what you would be giving up before you agree to stay on a 504.

Evaluations, Reevaluations, and Your Data

Does a three-year evaluation have to happen every three years? What has to happen is a review of existing evaluation data (often called a REED). In each area, the team decides either "yes, we want more testing here" or "no, we do not need more testing here." That review is the school's obligation to complete.

And the annual review? Yes, once a year the district is obligated to hold an IEP meeting for a student with a disability.

How often am I owed progress data? Every grading period. The law says IEP progress reports go home on the same schedule as report cards for non-disabled peers, so usually every six or nine weeks. You are not typically owed data every four weeks, but you can always request a parent-teacher conference in between.

A 504 student was accused of a Title IX violation, removed from school, and put on home-based instruction with no teacher. When a district removes a student from school, that is a moment to ask for a full evaluation across all areas of suspected disability. A removal of that size is exactly the kind of situation that raises child find.

How much of my child's outside or independent testing does the school have to use? The school is probably able to use any of it. Required to use it? None of it. A district can discount an outside evaluation as a different setting, a clinical setting, or out of date. That is why we expect the district to meet its own obligation under IDEA and evaluate the child themselves for suspected disabilities and the need for special education and related services.

Who pays for an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE)? If an IEE is granted, it is the district's obligation to fund it, with a vendor the parent chooses from the district's criteria.

Prior Written Notice: Your Most Underused Tool

The school said my son only qualifies for services in certain subjects. How do I get more? Ask for the decision in a Prior Written Notice. Prior Written Notice is the district's legal obligation any time it chooses to do something or chooses not to do something. If the school is refusing services in certain settings, ask for that refusal in writing, including all seven required components under the federal law, by a specific deadline. A firm, professional deadline, like close of business Tuesday, is completely reasonable.

Services, Accommodations, and Placement

My child has sensory issues and does not feed himself. He starts kindergarten next year. Feeding and eating happen during the instructional day, so this is squarely a school conversation. Ask for a feeding evaluation (sometimes called a swallowing or dysphagia evaluation) to consider feeding therapy as a related service.

Someone told me my son needs "travel training." What is it? Travel training is in the federal code. You see it most often with work-based learning starting around ninth grade, where a student uses part of the day to build toward employment, independent living, and further education. It also shows up for younger students, for example a child with diabetes who visits the nurse frequently and needs to learn to get in, get what they need, and get back to class efficiently.

Should I ask for more accommodations? Be careful here. Piling on accommodations is rarely the real fix. It is not realistic for a teacher to stop mid-lesson and deliver 20 or 30 separate accommodations to one student. If a child needs that many, the honest question is what special education, meaning actual instruction, would reduce the need in the first place.

What about time-and-a-half on tests? Simple math. If the class gets 60 minutes, the student on time-and-a-half gets 90 minutes. And if a student needs extra time on everything, that is a signal we may be giving the wrong educational product, and it is time to look at modifying the work, not just accommodating it.

How do I know if my child has too much pullout versus staying in class? Ask the campus to tell you the meaningful benefit of staying in class and the meaningful benefit of being pulled out. Put those side by side, and you can make an informed decision.

What might selective mutism look like in an IEP? It depends on how the disability shows up for that child. Often counseling as a related service, and sometimes speech, though it is not necessarily a speech impairment. The evaluation team decides what will actually reduce the impact.

Speech services will not start for two weeks so the therapist can build her schedule. Is this a hill to die on? She does not need two weeks. She knew how to build a schedule before the first day of school. The same law that requires the educational program to be ready for students without disabilities applies to students with disabilities. As long as every owed session is made up, one week is generous.

Can a teacher trial a service change before the addendum meeting? The district is obligated to deliver the IEP as written. That said, if the team wants to try something, for example letting a student in a supported setting attempt a general education science class, the teacher can reach out to the parent, and with the parent's written agreement, trial it for a set period without first convening a full IEP meeting.

My son went without his one-to-one aide and the state called it "de minimis." We do not use the phrase "de minimis" anymore. Under the Endrew F. decision, a unanimous Supreme Court ruling, an IEP must be reasonably calculated to enable a child to make progress appropriate in light of that child's circumstances. The two questions are whether the state met its procedural obligations and whether the district wrote an IEP designed to help the student progress. "De minimis" is gone.

When Things Go Wrong

A state complaint failed me on something big, and the lawyers want $50,000 to help. Keep your money. Get a strong advocate and refile the state complaint correctly. One good thing about state complaints is that when one comes back, you can see what was insufficient and refile it so it is sufficient. Even in states that limit refiling on the "same issue," a complaint that was filed insufficiently the first time can be corrected and filed properly.

My child was grabbed and bruised, there is video, and the teacher was fired. Can I go after the school? First ask yourself three questions: what do you actually want, why do you want it, and who is going to do it? "Going after the school" usually means you want someone held responsible. You have real leverage in this moment, so a strong move is to meet with the school and ask for a different setting, different supports, and compensatory services to make up for the harm done.

How do I even learn to file a state complaint? We have digital products that walk you through it, including a training on filing a state complaint and a longer one on filing a federal complaint with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.

Someone filed a 79-page complaint using AI. Any warning? Yes. AI may not know the federal law that governs special education. Tools like that can miss the very framework your complaint has to stand on, so do not assume the software has it right.

State Testing and RTI: What Actually Counts

If a child has services, how do they fail a STAR test? State testing is not a meaningful piece of data when we program for a child with a disability. Whether a student scores high or low on a state test, it is not what should drive the plan.

My child ends the year at Level 4 and starts the next year at Level 2, again. How can they keep using this against me? Data is meant to program for the student, not to be used against a family. A large summer slide points toward Extended School Year (ESY) next summer, possibly at a higher level, and possibly compensatory time to bring the student back to where they should be. A drop that big is also worth a records request to understand how the school concluded the student was at a Level 4 in the first place.

My child has been on Tier 2 / RTI again. What do I do? Tiered interventions and RTI are meant to be used for a moment, not for a full year and not multiple times a day. If your child has been sitting in Tier 2 that long, the window for RTI has passed.

Homework, the Bus, and Everyday Rights

My child works slowly and homework is a battle. How do I get it reduced? Homework is not a legal requirement under IDEA, and we have not seen it be one under state law either. A child who attended school and did the work all day has already put in the day. For a child with a known disability, more work at night with parents who are not their teachers often just creates more arguing. Read a couple of books at bedtime and let the day be done.

My child's rescue medication is "not allowed on the bus." Do I have to drive? It absolutely is allowed on the bus. In fact it is required to be available on the bus, so ask how you get the medication on the bus so your child can be safe and successful there.

For the Professionals: Two Different Academies

What is the difference between the Epic Educator Academy™ and Special Education Academy™? Special Education Academy™ has been training everyone, parents, advocates, and educators, on the law, the 504, and the application of the law for five years. The Epic Educator Academy™ launched more recently as its own space for school-based, licensed members only. The conversation educators need is different from the one parents and advocates need, so this academy focuses on the law, the politics inside schools, and how to move initiatives forward for kids. It is led by Karen alongside co-teacher Taran Dixon, a multi-decade special educator and district coordinator. Yes, those trainings are recorded, just like Special Education Academy™.

Listen to the Podcast

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