Mand Explained and Your Rights with Special Education Attorney Bonnie Yates

Check out Shannon Define Mand for the Jargon of the day before interviewing our favorite Special Education Lawyer, Bonnie Yates from Tollner Law Offices!

Questions answered:

37:17 - My son has ASD diagnosis, he is 5 and attended K online this year, we had completed our IEP before COVID and he had speech and OT services. It has been a nightmare. It took forever for them to figure out how to do speech on line and they never really figured out the OT. Now they are making recommendations for the new IEP and they are removing OT, their rationale is that he did okay without it! Please tell me this is as stupid as I think?

42:11 - We are starting the process of asking for comp ed this summer. Can you outline the steps of how we pursue this? My hope is to get them to pay for a 1:1 tutor for the summer. My fear is they will offer us summer school, in person with masks. My son is in 4th grade, he has missed so much academically this year and I am concerned that a summer of masks will not come close to getting him caught up.

45:30 - What are Bonnie's thoughts on having our kids repeat a year due to COVID? I feel like this year is a waste and wonder if a do-over isn't the best choice.

46:42 - Last week you talked about prior written notice. If we get prior written notice and disagree with the decision, what are my options?

51:15 – When we get a "Prior Written Notice" does it look like any other form of communication from the school or does it have "prior written notice" written somewhere on it?

52:28 – What do you do If the school gives your prior written notice and you do not agree with the actions that they are giving you notice of.

56:28 - How can I get the school to pay for Speech Therapist outside of school? We've been getting our speech this year online and it's not getting it done. She needs in-person and the school won't allow that.