Special education teacher support, IEP meeting communication, and the honest conversations nobody is having at the table. Karen Mayer Cunningham sits down with 23-year special education supervisor Chana Dixon to discuss what teachers feel, what they need, and what advocates and parents can do differently.
Nobody prepared you for what it feels like to sit across from a teacher in an IEP meeting. And nobody prepared that teacher for what it feels like when you walk in.
What you will learn in this episode:
- Why special educators feel like they are on an island - isolated from their peers, outnumbered in their buildings, and only connecting with the broader team at IEP meetings that feel like evaluations
- Why the IEP meeting is also an evaluation of the teacher - and why they feel attacked even when no attack is intended
- Chana's reframe for IEP meetings: instead of asking why a student is not learning a skill, ask the teacher to show you how that student needs to learn it
- Why special ed professional development is compliance-only - focused on checkboxes, not on pouring into the people who pour into students every day
- What really keeps teachers in special education (hint: it is not the money)
- Why Karen and Chana are building the Epic IEP Academy for Educators launching in June - a community, a training ground, and a place where educators are finally seen
This episode is for parents who want to show up better. For advocates who want to collaborate instead of confront. And for every special educator who has ever walked out of an IEP meeting feeling like they did something wrong.
CHAPTERS:
0:00 Welcome - Karen Mayer Cunningham and Chana Dixon
2:00 How Chana found her way into special education
4:00 Why special ed teachers are on an island
6:30 Teacher appreciation - who gets forgotten
8:00 The IEP meeting as an evaluation of the teacher
10:30 Why teachers feel attacked when advocates arrive
13:00 How to talk about a student's needs without blaming the teacher
18:00 Chana's reframe - show me how they need to learn that skill
22:00 Karen's story - what teachers meant to her son James
28:00 The document of deficit - what it feels like to write an IEP
32:00 Why great special ed teachers chronically second-guess themselves
35:00 Why teachers stay in special education
38:00 How professional development fails special educators
45:00 What filling teachers up could actually look like
50:00 The Epic IEP Academy for Educators - coming June
55:00 When we get it right for the child we get it right for everyone
RESOURCES:
Special Education Academy: specialeducationacademy.com
Epic IEP Book Bundle: theepiciep.com
Epic IEP Para Book: theepiciep.com/para
Join the Academy - first month free: specialeducationacademy.com/training
Email: advocate@specialeducationacademy.com
Karen Mayer Cunningham is the Special Education Boss - a nationally recognized advocate, trainer, and bestselling author of the Epic IEP book series. She trains everyone at the 504 and IEP table: parents, teachers, paraprofessionals, and administrators.
Chana Dixon is a special education supervisor with 23 years in the field. She is joining Karen as co-captain of the Epic IEP Academy for Educators launching June 2026.
Subscribe and never miss a live Ask the Advocate session - every Monday at 8PM inside the Special Education Academy.
#SpecialEducation #IEPMeeting #SpecialEdTeacher
Nobody prepared you for what it feels like to sit across from a teacher in an IEP meeting. And nobody prepared that teacher for what it feels like when you walk in.
What you will learn in this episode:
- Why special educators feel like they are on an island - isolated from their peers, outnumbered in their buildings, and only connecting with the broader team at IEP meetings that feel like evaluations
- Why the IEP meeting is also an evaluation of the teacher - and why they feel attacked even when no attack is intended
- Chana's reframe for IEP meetings: instead of asking why a student is not learning a skill, ask the teacher to show you how that student needs to learn it
- Why special ed professional development is compliance-only - focused on checkboxes, not on pouring into the people who pour into students every day
- What really keeps teachers in special education (hint: it is not the money)
- Why Karen and Chana are building the Epic IEP Academy for Educators launching in June - a community, a training ground, and a place where educators are finally seen
This episode is for parents who want to show up better. For advocates who want to collaborate instead of confront. And for every special educator who has ever walked out of an IEP meeting feeling like they did something wrong.
CHAPTERS:
0:00 Welcome - Karen Mayer Cunningham and Chana Dixon
2:00 How Chana found her way into special education
4:00 Why special ed teachers are on an island
6:30 Teacher appreciation - who gets forgotten
8:00 The IEP meeting as an evaluation of the teacher
10:30 Why teachers feel attacked when advocates arrive
13:00 How to talk about a student's needs without blaming the teacher
18:00 Chana's reframe - show me how they need to learn that skill
22:00 Karen's story - what teachers meant to her son James
28:00 The document of deficit - what it feels like to write an IEP
32:00 Why great special ed teachers chronically second-guess themselves
35:00 Why teachers stay in special education
38:00 How professional development fails special educators
45:00 What filling teachers up could actually look like
50:00 The Epic IEP Academy for Educators - coming June
55:00 When we get it right for the child we get it right for everyone
RESOURCES:
Special Education Academy: specialeducationacademy.com
Epic IEP Book Bundle: theepiciep.com
Epic IEP Para Book: theepiciep.com/para
Join the Academy - first month free: specialeducationacademy.com/training
Email: advocate@specialeducationacademy.com
Karen Mayer Cunningham is the Special Education Boss - a nationally recognized advocate, trainer, and bestselling author of the Epic IEP book series. She trains everyone at the 504 and IEP table: parents, teachers, paraprofessionals, and administrators.
Chana Dixon is a special education supervisor with 23 years in the field. She is joining Karen as co-captain of the Epic IEP Academy for Educators launching June 2026.
Subscribe and never miss a live Ask the Advocate session - every Monday at 8PM inside the Special Education Academy.
#SpecialEducation #IEPMeeting #SpecialEdTeacher