Excuse me?!? It seems to me that this has been some kind of revenge game to you - lets show the school how much better you are at your job than they are? If you can put that aside, how about realizing that you yourself stated that your child had issues with testing/professionals/etc and he probably bombed the school's testing due to nerves/anxiety. Did you think to bring that up at the meeting, or during your 5 page letter of refusal?
I'm very glad that your son is seemingly doing so well, but take a step back and check your attitude towards the school - they only want to help your child, there's no benefit to them to give him services up the wazoo. Actually, it cost the taxpayers a nice little fortune to cover the special ed expenses, to the detriment of other programs, so I'd have been grateful that it was that easy in your district to get services offered.
Wow, I think perhaps I should be the one using the phrase "Excuse me?????" Have you 'really' read all that I have written? Every word? And that's what you decide to add to the discussion?
I'm sorry if that one line was so offensive to you but I was there, I know what happened, I worked in a similar capacity for 16 years and I know my son. Do I have attitude? You bet I do. Those "professionals" made huge mistakes when they selected/administered/scored/interpreted tests (please remember that I said, many times, that much detail was being left out in order to keep the length of my posts reasonable). Those "professionals" sat around that table and tried to shove that plan down my throat so very sure that they couldn't possibly be wrong. I told that group many many things at that meeting (and in my 5 page letter of refusal) that, for whatever reason, they simply did not wish to believe . So am I trying to prove something? You bet I am.
For the record, I never once accused the school of having some ulterior motive so I'm not quite sure where you got that from. From the get-go my accusations have centered around their level of competence and unless you know where I live (and are personally familiar with the individuals of whom I speak) I'd say you should think twice before calling me out in such a manner and making snap judgements about things you know very little about.
Perhaps you might try and put yourself in my shoes for a minute. Imagine if someone told you your child was so notably deficient that he could not possibly learn to read without extensive help outside of the classroom; that he did not even possess the prerequisites to read. Imagine then that in a matter of 60 days, with only your support at home, that he "magically" learned to read. And I don't mean a small sampling of simple high frequency words. I mean really 'reading'; reading with fluency; books that, according to Scholastic, have a grade equivalent of up to the 2nd grade? What if by the end of that 60 days he was composing 200-250 word daily journal entries where, on average, 75% of the words were being independently spelled correctly???????? How would you feel? Now just imagine if, instead of trusting your gut, you had decided to 'believe' them and had accepted their recommendations (I mean, seeing that they ARE the professionals and it's almost impossible to be objective as a parent, right?)? Where exactly would your child be now? I'll tell you where.................. removed from the classroom for 1 1/2 hours per day and placed In a small group of notably deficient children to work on "prerequisites"! While the rest of the class sailed on ahead!
So do I have attitude? You bet I have attitude but, no, I'm not trying to prove that "I" can do the job better than they (although clearly it's been proven that I can when it comes to "my" child). I'm simply trying to prove that I made the right decision. What do you think the water cooler talk was the day they heard "Matty's mom" had rejected the IEP in full? Do you think they all smiled warmly at one another and said "oh, I'm sure she knows what's right?" Fat chance of that.
Please don't generalize my statements. I'm talking about "my" experience with "our" sped team at "our" school with "my" child. Not yours or anyone elses. I'm not making some general comment about sped professionals everywhere. But what happened here is real and you better believe that I have every right to have attitude. We're talking about my child and I've been fighting for this child his whole life. I'm not about to stop now.
(as an aside it appears that you did not carefully read each and every one of my posts..............may I suggest you might want to do that next time before being so quick to call someone out?)
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