By Frances Shefter, Esq. (and mom)
Full Parent’s Guide to the continuum: Understanding Special Education Placement.
Part 3: Resource Room
In Part 2, we talked about students who remain primarily in the general education setting while receiving special education services and supports. Some of those services may be provided inside the general education classroom, while others may require the student to leave the classroom for specialized instruction. That brings us to the next part of the continuum: resource rooms and other pull-out special education services.
IDEA specifically recognizes resource room instruction as a service that can be provided along with a regular class placement. What that looks like in practice can vary quite a bit depending on the student’s age, needs, and school system. At the elementary level, you are more likely to see students pulled out of the general education classroom for a specific period of specialized instruction focused directly on their individual IEP goals. A child might leave the classroom for specialized reading, math, writing, social skills, executive functioning instruction, or another disability-related need and then return to general education for the rest of the day.
By middle and high school, resource support often becomes an actual class period in the student’s schedule. Instead of taking one elective, for example, the student may have a resource class. That class should still be connected to the student’s individual IEP needs, but it may look different from an elementary pull-out group. Depending on the student, the resource period may include direct work on IEP goals along with instruction in executive functioning, organization, study skills, self-advocacy, social skills, or other areas the student needs to be successful throughout the school day.
What Is Actually Happening in the Resource Room?
This is the question I want parents asking, because the words “resource room” by themselves really do not tell you enough.
If your child has a resource class, ask what instruction is actually occurring during that period. Is the teacher providing specially designed instruction connected to your child’s IEP goals? Is your child receiving direct instruction in organization, planning, task initiation, or social skills because those are identified areas of need? Is there a structured curriculum or instructional plan, or has the class become primarily a place to finish homework, organize a binder, or catch up on missing assignments?
There is nothing wrong with helping a student organize work or complete assignments when that support is connected to the student’s disability-related needs. For a child with significant executive functioning needs, learning how to break down an assignment, plan long-term projects, prioritize work, and independently use an organizational system can absolutely be meaningful instruction. The important part is understanding whether skills are actually being taught, rather than having an adult simply help the student get through the work.
The same applies to social skills. A student may need explicit instruction in reading social cues, navigating peer interactions, handling conflict, understanding perspective, or advocating for themselves. If those needs are identified in the IEP, a resource class may be an appropriate place to provide that instruction. That is why I would not decide whether a resource class is appropriate simply because someone tells me, “This is our resource class.” I want to know what this child will be doing during that class and how it connects to the needs and goals in the IEP.
Could My Child Need More Than One Resource Period?
Yes. There is nothing about the concept of a resource placement that limits a student to one resource period simply because that is how the school typically structures the schedule. The IEP is supposed to identify the special education services the individual student needs, including the anticipated frequency, location, and duration of those services.
For some middle and high school students, one resource period may be enough. For another student, it may not be. A child could need more intensive academic support along with direct instruction in executive functioning or social skills. The team may determine that the student needs another resource period rather than moving the student into a substantially more restrictive placement for the entire day.
I will tell you that this is an area where parents may receive pushback. Scheduling two resource periods can mean giving up another elective, rearranging the student’s schedule, or doing something outside the school’s usual model. Those are practical considerations, but they do not answer the IEP question. The question is still what services this particular student needs.
This is where the data becomes especially important. If you are asking for additional resource support, you want to be able to explain why. Maybe your child continues to struggle significantly with organization despite one resource period. Maybe missing assignments, incomplete work, teacher reports, or progress toward executive functioning goals show that the existing support is not enough. Perhaps the student is receiving academic support during resource but the data shows continued significant social difficulties that also require explicit instruction. Rather than simply saying, “I want two resource classes,” we want to be able to show the team what unmet need requires additional service.
Look at the Data, Not Just the Schedule
If you have been following my blogs for a while, you probably knew I was going to bring us back to the data. A school schedule can tell us when a resource class occurs, but it cannot tell us whether the class is actually meeting your child’s needs.
Look at progress toward the IEP goals. Look at grades, but do not stop there. Look at missing and late assignments, teacher comments, behavioral information, observations, work samples, executive functioning data, social skills data, and how independently your child is functioning throughout the school day. If a student has an executive functioning goal but still requires constant adult reminders to begin work, turn in assignments, and manage materials, that information matters even if the report card looks fine.
The same is true when deciding whether a resource class should continue, change, or increase. Maybe the current resource period is working very well academically, but your child now needs more direct social skills instruction. Maybe your child no longer needs as much academic support but continues to need executive functioning instruction. The answer does not always have to be moving farther along the continuum. Sometimes the right answer is changing what happens during the resource period or increasing the amount of resource support.
How Shefter Law Can Help
This is one of the areas where understanding the data can make a big difference. Parents often know that something is not working, but it can be harder to identify which pieces of the school record support that concern and how those pieces connect back to the IEP.
At Shefter Law, we help families look beyond the name of the class and understand what the data actually shows. We can review the Present Levels, goals, progress reports, grades, missing assignments, teacher reports, evaluations, and other information to determine whether the current resource services are addressing the child’s needs. We can also help identify when the data supports asking for additional instruction, a change in what is being taught during resource, or even a second resource period.
The goal is not to ask for more service simply because more sounds better. It is to understand what your child needs, what the current resource class is providing, and whether there is a gap between the two.
Final Thoughts
A resource room can be an important part of a student’s special education program, but the name alone does not tell you whether it is appropriate. At the elementary level, resource services may look like targeted pull-out instruction focused on individual IEP goals. In middle and high school, resource may become a scheduled class that combines work on IEP goals with instruction in executive functioning, social skills, or other areas of need.
As a parent, make sure you understand what your child is actually being taught during that time. If one resource period is not enough, look at the data and determine what additional need is not being addressed. A second resource period may be appropriate for some students even if it is not the school’s usual schedule.
The question is not, “How many resource classes does the school normally give?” It is, “What does my child need, and what does the data tell us?”
Previous → Part 2: General Education Classroom
Next → Part 4: Self-Contained Classroom
Full Parent’s Guide to the continuum: Understanding Special Education Placement.