The IEP Promised a Specialist. Nobody Came. Here Is What the Law Says.

Doesn’t a signed IEP mean the help has started?

It should. Getting the plan was hard work. You sat through the meetings and the testing. Under US federal law, what you got is not a wish list. Services must start “as soon as possible” once the plan is done. That rule is 34 CFR §300.323(c). You helped shape every line of that plan, and the school signed it too.

One federal appeals court reads the plan the same way. In M.C. v. Antelope Valley (2017), the Ninth Circuit treated the IEP as a binding promise. A school that fails to deliver a real part of it denies FAPE. FAPE stands for a free appropriate public education. It is the core right in special education law. Here is more on how IDEA and IEP rights work.

Here is the honest limit. Many federal courts use a “material” failure test. One missed session does not meet it. A big gap does, and so does a gap that keeps going. So the plan still matters a great deal. It is the promise you get to hold the school to.

So why is the specialist’s chair still empty?

One common reason is staff. Schools across the US are short of people. The Learning Policy Institute (2026) puts it at about 1 in 8 teaching jobs. Those jobs are empty, or held by a teacher who is not fully certified. Its research also finds that special education shortages keep going, year after year.

Here is the part no one says out loud. Some districts sign plans they do not have the staff to keep. Then the gap lands on you. You are the one who has to notice. You are the one who has to push. This is not about one missing teacher. It is how the system is set up.

The law does not bend for it. Section 300.323 has no staffing exception. That is our reading of the rule. When the staff is not there, the school still owes the service. It has to find another way. That means outside help, moving staff, or making up the lost time later. Your child’s rights stay put when budgets get cut. They stay put when a job sits empty, too.

What do I do when the IEP services are not happening?

Start with paper, not anger. This is the order we would follow.

• Write down what is missing. Note each date the service did not happen. Then email the school and ask for the service log. It shows which sessions took place.
• Ask for an IEP meeting, in writing. Say the service is not being delivered. Ask how they will provide it now. Ask how they will make up what was lost.
• Name the make-up time. It is called compensatory services. There is no set formula. As we read it, the amount is worked out for each child.
• Answer “we have no one” in writing. A shortage is not a lawful reason to stop. The school must give you written notice before it changes the services (34 CFR §300.503).
• Know the next step. If nothing moves, file a written complaint with your state’s education department.

Here is a short email you could adapt.

“My child’s IEP lists [the service]. It has not happened since [date]. Please tell me in writing how the school will provide it now. Please also tell me how the missed time will be made up. I am asking for an IEP meeting to discuss this.”

To us, a spoken “we’re working on it” is not an answer. Ask for it in an email. That keeps the record on your side. For your rights inside the meeting, see the three rights nobody reads aloud.

One note on where this applies. All of this is US federal law, checked in September 2026. Rules change, so check what is current before you lean on it. Families outside the US should ask what their own country provides.