Law Office of Attorney Collins Fay-Martin

05/10/2026

Happy Mother’s Day!!

05/03/2026

My client’s yard sign WORKED, so he’s opened a parent-run Etsy shop. Get your own customizable 'Is [Our] School District Failing Your Special Needs Child Too?'.

Shop Signs, Apparel, and Merchandise For Advocacy by PlacementMattersCo located in Ayer, Massachusetts.

04/30/2026

DON’T BE FOOLED: If you consent to an IEP Service Delivery Grid that says 'Special Education Teacher/Paraprofessional' as delivering the service, the '/' legally means 'or', thereby permitting the district to deliver that service up to 100% of the time by only a paraprofessional.

04/14/2026

My client left an IEP meeting and had this on his lawn by dinner.✊

04/08/2026

Horrifying: The school trapped this 5 year old in a closet and held the door shut when the student tried to exit.

A family is demanding answers from the Gloucester, Massachusetts school district, after learning their five-year-old son was left alone in a quiet room for n...

04/05/2026

An up and coming special education private school focused on remediating dyslexia, located in Weymouth, MA.

Less than one week to go! Register here- bit.ly/4pq8hfq

Come learn more about our specialized school supporting students in grades 1–8 with dyslexia, ADHD, and other language-based learning differences.

03/27/2026

This isn’t a school behavior plan, it’s a sentencing matrix.

03/01/2026

Beware of IEP meetings that begin with softening tactics. Often, staff open with anecdotes/statements like “We just love your child,” “She makes me laugh,” or “He’s such a joy in class”, which can function as a psychological buffer ahead of denials/reductions in services.

02/22/2026

PSA: Email the Sped Director and Principal, stating “I am please requesting a complete copy of my child’s Student/Education record in PDF/electronic format, including but not limited to all [time-out room logs, nurse records, service logs].”
(Don’t accept them in paper format.)

02/20/2026

“There’s this power dynamic between adult teachers and a young child. Just because they’re technically allowed to leave doesn’t mean that they actually know they are allowed to leave,” said Collins Fay-Martin, a special education attorney that has represented dozens of parents whose children have been placed in timeout rooms.

The new guidance, which allows schools to seclude students against their will for “emergency circumstances,” doesn’t offer enough protection, advocates argue.

02/06/2026

Solitarty confinement cell (“time-out room”, no interior door handle) at May Institute, Norwood, MA, retrofitted for disabled students.