Special Education Boss® with Karen Mayer Cunningham
Karen Mayer Cunningham, Special Education Boss®
Key Metrics
About the Show
The Special Education Boss® Podcast is where advocacy meets action. Join Karen Mayer Cunningham each week as she empowers parents and professionals to understand their rights, navigate the system, and show up strong at the IEP table.
Partnership & Audience Signals
Regularly hosts outside guests
132 episodes — long track record
Production & Distribution
Feed Capabilities Podcasting 2.0
Advanced RSS tags in this feed — signals for transcripts, dynamic ad insertion, and analytics support.
Recent Episodes
S2E133 Ask the Advocate: IEP Questions Parents Are Asking Right Now
Ask the Advocate | Real IEP Questions from Parents and EducatorsParents, teachers, and advocates ask hundreds of questions every week about special education. In this Ask the Advocate episode, Karen…
S2E132 From Classroom to Advocate: What Schools Do When You Bring an Advocate to the IEP Table
What really happens when an advocate walks into an IEP meeting?In this powerful episode of Special Education Boss®, Karen Mayer Cunningham sits down with Paige Fitzgerald and Kate McAl—former special…
S2E131 IEP Implementation, ESY & Compensatory Services | Ask the Advocate LIVE
Guess who’s back?In this Ask the Advocate live session, Karen Mayer Cunningham answers rapid-fire questions from families and educators about:IEP implementation failuresParaprofessional layoffs and…
S2E130 RTI Is NOT a Gatekeeper + Why Schools Can’t Delay Evaluations (Live Q&A Fire)
Guess who’s back?Fresh off the inaugural Epic IEP™ World Book Tour — eight stops in five days, professional developments, book signings, and hundreds of powerful conversations — Karen is back…
S2E129 From 504s to One-on-Ones: Real Talk from the IEP Table | Special Education Boss®
“Data doesn’t have feelings. It has evidence.”In this high-energy TikTok Live replay, Karen Mayer Cunningham dives headfirst into real-time questions from parents, teachers, and advocates navigating…
S2E128 IEP Meetings, Procedural Safeguards & What Schools Don’t Want to Put in Writing | Ask the Advocate
In this Ask the Advocate episode of Special Education Boss®, Karen Mayer Cunningham answers real questions from parents, educators, and advocates navigating complex IEP issues — from unfinished…
S2E127 Ask the Advocate: Compensatory Services, Eligibility Traps, IEP Teams & School Pushback
In this Ask the Advocate episode of Special Education Boss®, Karen Mayer Cunningham answers real-time questions from parents, educators, and advocates navigating complex IEP situations — from…
S2E126 “Paras Can’t Take Data”? Let’s Finish the Sentence. | Ask the Advocate
Today’s Ask the Advocate starts with a celebration—The Epic IEP is officially hitting hands soon—and then we go straight into a question that’s blowing up in schools everywhere:Can paraprofessionals…
S2E125 When Schools Say “No”: AAC Updates, Triennials, Toileting Support, and Your IEP Rights (Q&A)
Did your IEP team say “we don’t have staff,” “we’ll just do a records review,” or “they don’t qualify because grades are fine”?In this rapid-fire Q&A episode, Karen Mayer Cunningham (THE SPECIAL…
S2E124 Stop Playing the “Draft IEP” Game + Why Paras Can’t Replace Certified SPED Minutes
We’re back to school, and I’m not easing into anything. If your district is only giving parents “part of the draft,” if services are being missed because of staffing, or if someone is trying to use…
S1E123 Behavior Is Communication: Safety, Structure & Relationship with John Vergara
What if we stopped calling kids “difficult”… and started getting honest about what difficult behavior is really communicating?In today’s episode, Karen Mayer Cunningham sits down with John Vergara…
S1E122 Ask the Advocate: Recording IEP Meetings, Paras, Inclusion, FAPE & Out-of-District Placement
This week’s Ask the Advocate is a fast-paced Q&A covering what parents and educators are dealing with right now: staffing shortages, messy “tier” conversations, behavior needs being dismissed,…
S1E121 Ask the Advocate: Truancy, One-to-One Aides, LRE, and The Epic IEP Book
In this Ask the Advocate episode, Karen Mayer Cunningham, Special Education Boss®, answers rapid-fire questions from parents, teachers, and advocates—and shares how her new book, The Epic IEP, gives…
S1E120 Ask the Advocate: IEP Data, 504 vs IEP, Behavior, RTI, and Comp Time Q&A
What do you do when the school’s “data” makes no sense, your child is stuck on a 504 instead of an IEP, or behavior is being blamed on your student instead of addressed in the plan? In this Ask the…
S1E119 Cold Reads Don’t Lie: An Epic IEP Story Every Parent Needs to Hear
Today’s episode of The Epic IEP™ is a little bit longer — but you’re going to want to hear this. Karen Mayer Cunningham, The Special Education Boss®, shares a real IEP meeting where the school’s data…
S1E118 When Vision Minutes Go Wrong: How to Use Data to Fix an Epic IEP
Today’s episode of The Epic IEP™ is going to be a little bit longer — but you’re going to want to hear this. Karen Mayer Cunningham, The Special Education Boss®, shares a story that is funny,…
S1E117 Why Disagreement Isn’t Disrespect: A Real IEP Story
Today’s episode of The Epic IEP™ is a little longer — but you’re going to want to hear this. Karen Mayer Cunningham, The Special Education Boss®, shares a real IEP meeting where everything was…
S1E116 Epic IEP Meetings Gone Wild: Services, LRE, Vision Minutes & Telling the Truth About Data
Today’s episode of The Epic IEP™ is a little longer — but you’re going to want to hear this. Karen Mayer Cunningham, The Special Education Boss®, breaks down a real IEP story that starts with “she’s…
S1E115 When “She’s Doing Fantastic” Isn’t True: The Resource Room Fight Every Parent Faces
Welcome back to The Epic IEP™, where we share stories that are funny, frustrating, and absolutely fantastic—because they really happen at the IEP table.In today’s episode, Karen Mayer Cunningham,…
S1E114 “He Has a Disability Every Day”: The Schedule-of-Services Fight You Won’t Believe
Welcome back to The Epic IEP™, where we share stories that are funny, frustrating, and absolutely fantastic — because they really happen at the IEP table.In today’s episode, Karen Mayer Cunningham,…
Market Reports
Benchmark this show against its category and language peers.
Similar Podcasts
Comparable shows in the same category and language — useful for prospecting and competitive sets.
Read-Aloud Revival ®
Sarah Mackenzie
304 episodes
3 in 30 Takeaways for Moms
Cloud10
505 episodes
No Bad Dogs Podcast
Tom Davis
377 episodes
Minimalist Moms Podcast | Purposeful Life & Parenting Tips
Diane Boden
659 episodes
Drinking From the Toilet: Real dogs, Real training
Hannah Branigan
192 episodes
Little by Little Homeschool - Christian Homeschooling and Motherhood
Leigh Nguyen - Homeschool Mom, Homeschooling, Education, Motherhood, Homemaking, Christian Parenting
475 episodes
Profile compiled from public podcast metadata · Last refreshed June 15, 2026